Thibaut Tricole survives Comito comeback to set up showdown with Luke Humphries as 2025 PDC World Darts Championship opens with a thriller
PDC
Thibaut Tricole has become the first winner at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, setting up a second round tie later this evening against defending world champion Luke Humphries thanks to a 3-1 victory over Joe Comito.
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The opening match of the tournament, there was a little extra pressure on both Tricole and Comito in this one. It was the Australian debutant that started the strongest, holding throw solidly in the opening leg to get off the mark. As he missed chances in the following few legs though, Comito became more and more animated. The cool Frenchman Tricole though, stayed focused and punished his opponents mistakes to move into a 1-0 at the end of the first set.
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Tricole was nowhere near his best level. In the second set too though, 'The French Touch' continued to punish Comito's mistakes. In the opening leg of the set, the Aussie missed a the big number trying to set up a double allowing Tricole to go one up. Then in leg 2, despite hitting the first maximum of the match, Comito couldn't finish the leg off. In leg 3 though, the roles were reversed. Tricole missed a handful for the set, allowing Comito to stop the rot and stay alive in the set. After then levelling the set I the next leg, Comito looked to have the momentum. With the first real moment of magic in the contest though, Tricole pinned a classy 118 checkout to move into a 2-0 lead.
Spurred on by the ton-plus checkout, Tricole opened sets 3 with his first maximum. Comito still had the first dart for the leg, but after he missed, the Frenchman punished to nudge closer to the second round. Showing good fight, Comito wasn't ready to give in just yet and broke straight back in leg 2 to level up the set. The Aussie the held strongly in the following too to get infront in set 3. Comito seal the set in next leg though, allowing Tricole to punish again and get to one away from victory. In the deciding leg of the set, Comito had the darts, and he made the most of it too, hitting double top to get a set on the board.
Suddenly, it was Tricole who looked to be feeling the nerves. Despite some big misses on the outer ring though, he eventually pinned double one for the first leg of set 4. A reinvigorated Comito pinned 94 to level in leg 2, striking a pose in celebration too as he began to really look at home on the big stage. After taking leg 3, Tricole then forged himself two matchdarts in leg 4. After missing double 10 and double 5 though, Tricole failed to capitalise, allowing Comito to pin tops and stay alive. With the Aussie missing a dart for 2-2 though, Tricole pinned double 16 for the match.
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TRICOLE DOUBLES HIS LEAD!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 15, 2024
Thibault Tricole takes the set two decider to open up a 2-0 lead in sets over Joe Comito!
📺 https://t.co/pIQvhqYxEj#WCDarts | R1 pic.twitter.com/nv1BoVIT14
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026
- No point in being there? Champions want to win.Deduce635828-10-2026