Rob Cross and Luke Littler managed to qualify for the semifinals of the World Darts Championship during this afternoon's session. On Monday night it will become clear whether pre-tournament favourites Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries can join them.
Van Gerwen will be in action in the first match of the session. The 34-year-old Dutchman faces off with Scott Williams in the fourth round. It will be only the second meeting between the Dutchman and the 33-year-old Englishman. In September 2023 they met at a Players Championship tournament and then 'Mighty Mike' won 6-2. The three-time world champion is the heavy favourite to advance to the next round. He defeated consecutively Keane Barry (3-0), Richard Veenstra (4-0) and Stephen Bunting (4-0);
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Williams can't be ruled out however. With four wins already under his belt, he first won 3-1 over Haruki Muramatsu, before 'Shaggy' proved too strong for Danny Noppert (3-0), Martin Schindler (4-3) and Damon Heta (4-1) in succession. The duel between Van Gerwen and Williams is a showdown between the two best finishers of the tournament. Scoring-wise, however, 'Mighty Mike' is doing much better. So for Williams to have a chance at the upset, he will have to keep cashing in on his chances, and perhaps score a little better than he has in the tournament to date.
In the final of Monday's ties, Luke Humphries and Dave Chisnall will battle for a semi-final spot. The two Englishmen have met several times in the past year. No less than five times have they faced off in the final of a PDC ranking tournament. Chisnall won four of them and Humphries took the top prize once.
Humphries has already narrowly escaped elimination twice this tournament. Against Ricardo Pietreczko he overturned a 1-3 deficit to prevail 4-3. Joe Cullen even missed two match darts in the last sixteen to knock Humphries out. In the end, 'Cool Hand Luke' won that match after a sudden-death leg. Chisnall meanwhile has not really been in trouble yet this tournament. He edged Cameron Menzies (3-1), Gabriel Clemens (4-1) and Daryl Gurney (4-2) to reach the last eight.
Monday, Jan. 1
Quarterfinals
Evening session (from 7 p.m.)
Michael van Gerwen v Scott Williams
Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall