Luke Humphries won his second European Tour title in the space of a month in Prague on Sunday, defeating Rob Cross 8-5 in the final of the Gambrinus Czech Darts Open.<\/p>\n
Humphries further enhanced his reputation as one of the sport’s hottest prospects with impressive victories over Michael van Gerwen and Dimitri Van den Bergh en route to the final.<\/p>\n
A winner of April’s Interwetten German Darts Grand Prix, Humphries averaged 100.34 in the final to rack up his third PDC ranking event win of 2022.<\/p>\n
Humphries took early control in the final as he raced into a 4-1 lead, before Cross piled in a rot-stopping 145 checkout to gain a foothold in the contest.<\/p>\n
The tenth leg saw Cross pounce on four missed doubles from Humphries to break throw and level at 5-5.
\nHowever, a crucial last dart double top saw Humphries break straight back before reeling off the last two legs in 26 darts to pocket the \u00a325,000 winner’s prize.<\/p>\n
“To win one Euro Tour was great, but to win two is unbelievable – I’m over the moon,” said Humphries.<\/p>\n
“I think the final was the best I played all weekend. Rob and I are good friends and he pushed me really hard.<\/p>\n
“When you make that final it’s hard because you’re tired after a long day and when he took the 145 out it drained me.<\/p>\n
“But I think the last two legs show a lot about my game and are testament to what I am now.<\/p>\n
“I need to start believing I’m one of the best players in the world.<\/p>\n
“I’m getting that confidence in my game, I feel like I’m making the next step now.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Cross was left to suffer an unwanted familiar feeling as he endured a sixth defeat in his sixth European Tour final.<\/p>\n
“Credit to Luke, he was brilliant,” said Cross, who defeated Ross Smith and Vincent van der Voort earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
“I struggled to hold my throw, that was my Achilles’ Heel in that one.<\/p>\n
“I really enjoyed my weekend here, Prague has played host to a fantastic tournament with an amazing crowd.<\/p>\n
“I wasn’t at my best today but I almost got the result and I’ll move onto the next one.”<\/p>\n
Sunday saw the tournament reach its climax with last 16 matches in the afternoon, before the evening session saw the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final take place.<\/p>\n
Czech number one Adam Gawlas sent the home crowd into raptures with a dramatic 6-5 win over Ryan Searle in the last 16, before his dream run was ended by Van der Voort in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
The European Tour continues with the Interwetten European Darts Grand Prix (ET7), which will take place from May 20-22 at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany. Tickets are on sale through PDC Europe.<\/p>\n
Gambrinus Czech Darts Open Evening Session Semi-Finals<\/strong> Final<\/strong> Luke Humphries won his second European Tour title in the space of a month in Prague on Sunday, defeating Rob…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[943,109,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-pdc-europe","category-results"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nSchedule of Play
\nSunday May 15
\nAfternoon Session<\/strong>
\nRowby-John Rodriguez 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
\nJose de Sousa 6-5 Jose Justicia
\nLuke Humphries 6-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
\nMichael van Gerwen 6-5 Mickey Mansell
\nRob Cross 6-2 Ricky Evans
\nRoss Smith 6-4 Dave Chisnall
\nAdam Gawlas 6-5 Ryan Searle
\nVincent van der Voort 6-3 Adrian Lewis<\/p>\n
\nQuarter-Finals<\/strong>
\nJose de Sousa 6-2 Rowby-John Rodriguez
\nLuke Humphries 6-4 Michael van Gerwen
\nRob Cross 6-4 Ross Smith
\nVincent van der Voort 6-2 Adam Gawlas<\/p>\n
\nLuke Humphries 7-4 Jose de Sousa
\nRob Cross 7-4 Vincent van der Voort<\/p>\n
\nLuke Humphries 8-5 Rob Cross<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"