Luke Humphries provides rare double with title at World Matchplay

Once again Luke Humphries was able to add another prestigious prize to his ever-growing record last Sunday. 'Cool Hand Luke' prevailed in Blackpool, winning the 2024 World Matchplay.

In the first round of the World Matchplay, he pulverized strong-playing debutant Ricardo Pietreczko 10-4 thanks to an average of 108.76. Then the reigning world champion added a second 100+ average in the second round. At the last sixteen, Stephen Bunting was defeated 11-7. In that match, Humphries averaged 102.34 points per turn.

In the last eight, Humphries struggled with Dimitri van den Bergh for a long time. 'The Dreammaker' did not let Humphries get into his rhythm and was able to keep up with the world number one for much of the match. However, Van den Bergh made the mistake in the 22nd leg when the score was 11-10 in the Englishman's favor by provoking Humphries. The Belgian made a gesture that did not please Humphries and that unleashed the fire in Humphries' body. 'Cool Hand Luke' hit 106 and did not surrender a leg after that. It was then 16-10 for Humphries. In the semifinal match, James Wade could not shake his compatriot off either. 'The Machine' struggled considerably in the early stages, but Humphries eventually won the match comfortably 17-10.

In the final against Michael van Gerwen, Humphries had to dig deep to win again. He did not manage to take a leap ahead of his Dutch opponent in the first half of the match, after which Van Gerwen seemed to be better in the last part. However, Van Gerwen messed up on the doubles, so the title still went to Humphries 18-15.

Humphries had also won the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts, Players Championship Finals and the World Darts Championship in the past nine months. Since "Cool Hand Luke" won his world title in 2024, he accomplished a special feat.

The current world number one is only the second player ever to win both the World Darts Championship and the World Matchplay in the same year. Phil Taylor was the first to do so in 1995. 'The Power' also pulled off the same trick, incidentally, in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013.