It's time Sunday night for the conclusion at the 2024
UK Open. With the semi-finals and final still ahead, it is already guaranteed that a new name is going to be added to the historic list of winners at this prestigious tournament.
The big favourite for the overall victory is now
Luke Humphries, who previously saw pre-tournament favourites such as Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Luke Littler eliminated. 'Cool Hand Luke' won earlier in the tournament over Dirk van Duijvenbode (10-7), Benjamin Drue Reus (10-3), Mervyn King (10-4) and Stephen Bunting (10-2) and is now unbeaten in the ranking majors for 23 matches in a row.
Indeed, Humphries has won successively the Grand Slam of Darts, Players Championship Finals and the World Darts Championship since the autumn. So now the Englishman is two wins away from a UK Open title, a prize still missing from his record.
To move one step closer to this title, Humphries will have to face
Ricky Evans in the semi-finals. 'Rapid Ricky' has won against Lee Evans (6-3), Scott Williams (10-4), Mike de Decker (10-5), Luke Woodhouse (10-6) and Rob Cross (10-7) to reach the semi-finals of a major for the first time in his career.
The other semi-final will be a meeting between good friends
Damon Heta and
Dimitri van den Bergh. The Australian and the Belgian even shared a house for some time when Van den Bergh was still living in Leicester. Heta ended up there after 'The Heat' decided to move from his home country of Australia to England, where the bulk of darts tournaments are played.
Heta provided a surprise on Sunday afternoon by defeating teenage sensation Luke Littler (10-8), after 'The Heat' had also previously beaten Simon Whitlock (10-8), Nathan Aspinall (10-9) and Gian van Veen (10-8). Van den Bergh joined the last four after victories over Brendan Dolan (10-8), Vincent van der Voort (10-6), Jonny Clayton (10-7) and Martin Lukeman (10-5).
Sunday, March 3
Afternoon session
Quarterfinals
Stephen Bunting (98.07) 2-10 (102.02) Luke Humphries
Ricky Evans (85.68) 10-7 (87.45) Rob Cross
Damon Heta (106.04) 10-8 (104.77) Luke Littler
Martin Lukeman (95.56) 5-10 (93.91) Dimitri Van den Bergh
Evening session (from 7 p.m.)
Semi-final
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Damon Heta
Luke Humphries v Ricky Evans
Final
Van den Bergh/Heta v Humphries/Evans