Preview Saturday night Grand Slam of Darts: Headline act of Luke Littler v Josh Rock as semi-final line-up to be set

.At the Grand Slam of Darts, we have now reached the quarter-finals. Friday evening the first two quarter-finals were completed, tonight the other two quarter-finals are on the program. Including the only remaining Dutchman in the tournament, Danny Noppert.

The Grand Slam of Darts 2025 takes place in Wolverhampton this week. After the group stage took place during the first four days, games have since been played in knockout format. Whereas matches in the eighth finals were still played according to the best-of-19 format, they are now played to best-of-31 legs.

The first semifinal is now fixed and will go between Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price. The other semifinal should come from the winners of the matches between Danny Noppert-Lukas Wenig and Luke Littler-Josh Rock.

In the opening match of the evening, Danny Noppert takes on Lukas Wenig, in what will be a replay of their group match. In that one, Noppert pulled ahead 5-4. Yet in the end it was Wenig who became group winner with two wins and a better leg balance.

Noppert didn't let it get to his heart, knocking his compatriot Michael van Gerwen 10-6 in the eighth finals after a riveting duel. In that match we saw Noppert as he has been playing all year, a high average and ironclad on his doubles. 'The Freeze has now become a fixture in the final stages of major tournaments and may quietly dream of a second major title after his final victory at the UK Open in 2022.

Opposite him is Lukas Wenig, who is showing the form of his life. The German managed to beat Niko Springer 10-8 in the previous round. For Wenig, this is a breakthrough: it is his first quarterfinal at a major television tournament. What makes him extra dangerous is his background: he was once a powerlifter, and that clearly contributes to his mental resilience and physical strength on stage.

Their group match, by the way, was only the first time both men had faced each other. Given his status and experience, Noppert obviously starts this match as the favorite, but that he will have his hands more than full with Wenig was already clear in the group stage.

Luke Littler is defending his Grand Slam of Darts title from last year with great conviction for the time being. 'The Nuke', already good for four major titles this year, won his three group matches and was too strong for Wessel Nijman in the eighth finals 10-4.

The 18-year-old indicated earlier that where there was still time for some show in the group stage, from the knockout stage onwards it is pure seriousness for him. Littler is eager to extend his title in Wolverhampton and if he reaches the level - or possibly even better - of his match against Nijman, he will be extremely difficult to stop. By the way, Littler is playing this week with another goal, to take over the number one position in the world rankings from Luke Humphries.

Josh Rock, on the other hand, reached the quarterfinals by a very different route. He defeated Connor Scutt 10-9 in a thriller of a match. 'Rocky' said afterwards that he was not satisfied with his level - he even stayed below 90 average - but is still in the tournament.

The 24-year-old Northern Irishman won this year's World Cup of Darts alongside Daryl Gurney and is longing for an individual major title. In order to do so, he will have to get past Littler and for that Rock will have to bring out his very best.

Remarkable: the two men have only met twice before, each time Littler won. This was also the case in their semi-final at the last World Matchplay, which Littler won 17-14 after a particularly high quality match.