luke Humphries launched his campaign at the 2024 World Grand Prix with a 2-0 victory over Nathan Aspinall on Monday, signaling his intent to contend for the title. The opening day of the tournament in Leicester also saw surprising results, including James Wade’s defeat to Joe Cullen.
The World grand Prix, a prestigious event in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) calendar, features a double-in, double-out format, adding a unique layer of difficulty and strategic nuance to the matches. This year’s competition, running through October 12th, pits the world’s top dart players against each other for a considerable prize fund and ranking points. Humphries’ win sets the stage for a challenging week,with several other top contenders entering the fray.
Elsewhere on Monday, Gary Anderson overcame Raymond van Barneveld 2-1 in a closely contested match, while Rob Cross defeated Wessel Nijman by the same scoreline. Krzysztof Ratajski secured a 2-0 win against Martin Schindler, and Cameron Menzies also triumphed 2-0 over Chris dobey. Joe Cullen upset fifth seed James Wade 2-0 in an all-English clash, and Danny Noppert edged past Jermaine Wattimena 2-1. stephen Bunting continued his strong form, defeating Niko Springer 2-0, following his recent Swiss darts Trophy win – his sixth title of the season.
Looking ahead, Tuesday’s matches feature a compelling lineup including Damon Heta versus Luke Woodhouse, Ross Smith against Daryl Gurney, and Jonny Clayton taking on Andrew Gilding.Highly anticipated contests will also see Gerwyn Price face Ryan Searle, Luke Littler challenge Gian van veen, Michael van Gerwen play Dirk van Duijvenbode, Peter wright battle Mike de Decker, and Josh Rock meet Ryan Joyce.
“My scoring was a bit strange, they just didn’t want to drop in,” Humphries commented after his win, expressing hope for improvement in his next match on Wednesday.
