Preview Winmau World Masters Sunday Afternoon: Humphries, Littler and Van Veen still in the running

We head into the final day at the Winmau World Masters. This afternoon features the four quarterfinals. The Winmau World Masters 2026 has been a ranking event since it was upgraded last year. Players can therefore earn prize money that counts toward the world rankings. That has boosted the tournament’s prestige.

The quarterfinals are played over four winning sets, with best-of-3 legs per set. Below you can find a preview of the four quarterfinals.

The afternoon session in Milton Keynes opens with Chris Dobey against Gerwyn Price. Dobey, the 2023 Masters champion, defeated Jermaine Wattimena and Damon Heta in succession. In both matches he averaged just under a ton. He will likely need at least similar numbers against Price to have a shot at the win.

Price, for his part, has been hugely impressive this tournament. In his opener, powered by a 108-plus average, he had no trouble with James Hurrell. In the second round he edged his compatriot Jonny Clayton 4-3 in a thriller. Price and Dobey have met often, eleven times last year alone. Price won seven of those encounters in 2025 and thus carries a slight mental edge.

Next up is Luke Littler. The Nuke had some luck in the first round when Mike De Decker missed a match dart, but in the second round we saw the Littler of old. Against Ross Smith he was just shy of a 108 average and eventually won 4-1. Littler remains on course for the Winmau World Masters crown, one of the few titles he has yet to win.

For a place in the semifinals he faces Josh Rock. The 24-year-old Northern Irishman has long been tipped as a future major winner; if it is to happen this weekend, he must first get past Littler. Rocky was too strong for Connor Scutt and Rob Cross in the previous rounds, but now the real test begins.

In the penultimate quarterfinal, Gian van Veen takes on James Wade. Van Veen made a definitive breakthrough at the end of last year by winning the European Championship and reaching the World Championship final. The 23-year-old from Poederoijen has carried that form into this season. Last month he reached the final at the Bahrain Darts Masters, and he is well on his way to doing the same at the Winmau World Masters.

To reach the semifinals, Van Veen must get past Wade, who himself dispatched Gary Anderson in the second round. Wade has bags of experience; he won the Masters—then not a ranking event—back in 2014 and craves another major title. He came very close twice last year, but in the UK Open and World Matchplay finals Littler proved his nemesis. Will it happen for him this weekend?

The afternoon session at Arena MK in Milton Keynes concludes with Luke Humphries against Danny Noppert. Humphries, the defending champion, survived elimination in the previous round with a 4-3 win over Luke Woodhouse. Survived might be overstating it, as Humphries was superb—so was Woodhouse, incidentally—and he threw a nine-darter. With an average over 105, he showed he is in top form.

Noppert impressed as well. The Freeze—left out of the 2026 Premier League Darts lineup to his disappointment—showed no mercy to Stephen Bunting in the previous round and won by a clear 4-0 scoreline. Noppert reached four major semifinals last year and is well on track to make the last four again at the first major of the new season.