Luke Humphreys and Luke Littler continue to clash in the finals of The Players Championship after advancing to the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Rounds two and three took place at Minehead on day two as defending champion Humphreys continued his title defence.
The world number one beat Raymond van Barneveld and Damon Hetta to continue his bid for The Players Championship Finals titles, brushing aside Gabriel Clemens in a dramatic opening night.
“I felt like I had a lot more to give there,” said Humphries, who is relishing the prospect of a showdown with Littler if both players advance to Sunday’s final.
“Luke is playing some absolutely phenomenal darts. He’s probably the best player in the world at the moment, but I know I have the level to match that.
“Hopefully I can get to the final and give the fans what they want, but I still have to win a few games before we can think about that. You can’t look too far ahead.”
Humphries averaged over 102 as he beat Dutchman Van Barneveld 6-3 in the second round, while winning nine of the last 12 bouts to defeat Australian number one Heta 10-6 in Saturday’s final.
Fresh from averaging 112.73 against Rob Cross on Friday night, Littler maintained his breathtaking form with dominant victories over Richie Edhaus and Danny Knoppert.
The newly crowned Grand Slam champion produced a superb draw against Edhaus, dropping a double 12 for nine balls in a contest where both players averaged 105.
Littler then backed it up with a 10-3 thrashing of former British Open champion Noppert, averaging 104 and crashing 7 180s to extend his winning streak to 10 matches.
“When I go on these little spurts, I feel like nobody can touch me in between,” claimed Littler, who has now climbed to a career-high ranking of world No.4.
“I’m just really happy for the win. I played really well against Richie this afternoon and I felt comfortable tonight.”
Luke Littler extended his winning streak to 10 matches and reached the quarterfinals of the Players Championship.
The 17-year-old will now resume his rivalry with world grand prix champion Mike De Decker in the last eight after the Belgian dropped just four legs in Saturday’s double-header against Ian White and Nils Zonneveld.
Ross Smith also eased into the final day, following up 6-1 wins over Dimitri Van Den Berg and Wesley Plaisier with a 10-1 win over 2023 British Open champion Andrew Gilding.
Smith will now face Scott Williams, who reached his second televised ranking quarter-final with comeback wins over 2012 runner-up Kim Huybrechts and Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf.
Mike De Decker averaged 101 in a 6-foot blitz of Ian White in the afternoon before a convincing 10-4 win over Nils Zonneveld in the last 16.
Elsewhere, 2023 semi-finalist Ryan Joyce survived four games of arrows against Cameron Menzies before seeing off Martin Schindler 10-6, maintaining his impressive Minehead record, to set up a quarter-final clash against Humphreys.
Joyce survived four darts to win a dramatic second-round draw against Cameron Menzies before beating German number one Martin Schindler 10-6 in the last 16.
Dirk van Duyvenbode continued his resurgence with wins over Florian Hempel and Jermaine Vattimena to set up a last-eight clash against Conor Scutt, who advanced to Mario Vandenbogaerde and 2018 champion Daryl Gurney.
Earlier, world number three Michael Smith crashed out to Gurney in the second round, with Dave Chisnall and Nathan Aspinall also eliminated at the same stage.
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