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HUMPHRIES LANDS GRAND SLAM NINE-DARTER AS SIX STARS PROGRESS TO LAST 16

Luke Humphries struck a perfect leg to complete victory over Michael Smith at the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts on Sunday, as six players - including reigning champion Luke Littler - secured qualification from the group phase in Wolverhampton.

2023 Grand Slam of Darts winner Humphries enjoyed another moment to remember on the WV Active Aldersley stage to close out a 5-3 win over Smith in their second Group A contest. Humphries had finished 139 as he and Smith shared a cagey first six legs of their clash, before the world number one took out a clutch 80 finish to move 4-3 up. He then opened the eighth leg with a 177 and followed that with a 180 before taking out 144 to complete his third nine-darter of 2025 to wrap up the triumph.

"It's the weirdest game of darts I've been involved in," admitted Humphries, who has won both of his opening games at the Grand Slam. "I didn't feel good and couldn't hit a treble. It all felt like hard work and I thought the game it was gone. "To then go on and hit a nine-darter, that's why darts is one of the best sports in the world. It was quite an incredible game to be part of, and I'm still flabbergasted from what just happened!"

Aspinall, meanwhile, secured a crucial 5-2 win over Alex Spellman to leave Group A wide open going into their final group games. Whilst Humphries still needs three legs from his final group game against Nathan Aspinall to secure his progression to Round Two, six other stars have already booked their place in the knockout stages.

Littler defied a 170 checkout from Connor Scutt as he took a 5-3 win from their Group E contest to secure his spot in the last 16. The reigning Grand Slam champion has won every game he has played in the tournament and hit 55% per cent of his doubles against Scutt to maintain his perfect record in Wolverhampton.

"We were both up for a good game," said Littler, who averaged 105 in his victory. "I can say now that I'm through, relax tomorrow and come back Tuesday. "It was better than the first game and hopefully I can play even better going forward. I'm very happy that the pressure is off going into the final game."

Ricky Evans hit a huge 170 checkout as he secured his place in the knockout stage by edging past Stefan Bellmont 5-4. Evans will be joined in progressing from Group E by either Bellmont or three-time Grand Slam champion Gerwyn Price - who whitewashed James Wade in a result which eliminates the 2025 UK Open and World Matchplay finalist.

Chris Dobey secured his place in the last 16 with a 5-1 thrashing of Damon Heta, whilst last year's beaten finalist Martin Lukeman cannot escape the group stage after suffering a 5-4 loss to Jurjen van der Velde.

Dutchman Danny Noppert also moved into the knockout phase with a 5-4 triumph over Cam Crabtree, who now takes on Lukas Wenig in a winner-progresses clash after the German ended Jonny Clayton's hopes with a 5-3 success.

German prospect Niko Springer will also compete in Round Two as he continued a memorable Wolverhampton debut with a 5-4 win over Michael van Gerwen.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Van Gerwen now faces a winner-takes-all clash with Gary Anderson in Tuesday's final Group G games, after the Scottish ace edged out Beau Greaves to claim a crucial win. A high-quality affair saw both players average over 102, while the two-time World Champion defied a 100% checkout success rate from Greaves, who for the second consecutive game averaged over a ton but lost a last-leg decider.

"She's going to cause so much trouble next year in the ProTour," said Anderson. "I watched Beau the night before, she was hitting 140 after 140. "After the next five years, I don't think you will have one person dominating darts because from these youngsters there are going to be so many good darts players."

Fourth seed Stephen Bunting is another high-profile name to crash out in the group stage, with Luke Woodhouse securing progression from Group C. Bunting had lost 5-4 to Alexis Toylo on Saturday and went down to Martin Schindler by the same margin 24 hours later to see his Wolverhampton hopes ended. Toylo this time went down 5-2 as Woodhouse progressed, but the Filipino ace now takes on Schindler on Monday for a spot in the last 16.

Gian van Veen averaged 107 in his 5-3 triumph over Wessel Nijman, whilst Josh Rock whitewashed Lisa Ashton 5-0 - meaning that three players can still qualify in Group F. Karel Sedlacek missed ten match darts before winning 5-3 against Daryl Gurney to condemn the Northern Irishman to elimination in Group E, where the Czechia star now faces off against Scutt for a Round Two place.

Monday will see the final games from Groups A-D, whilst Tuesday's session will conclude the group stage for Groups E-H.

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