Luke Humphries reaches World Grand Prix quarter-finals with Wade, Van Veen and Zonneveld

Luke Humphries reached the World Grand Prix quarter-finals in Leicester on Thursday, 1 October, beating Jermaine Wattimena 3-0 in sets. James Wade, Gian van Veen and Niels Zonneveld also won their second-round matches, completing the last-eight line-up for Friday. Humphries will face Zonneveld, while Wade will play Van Veen.

The results put two former tournament winners, Humphries and Wade, into separate quarter-finals. Humphries won the World Grand Prix in 2023; Wade won it in 2007 and 2010. Their opponents reached Friday by different routes: Zonneveld beat Gary Anderson in four sets, while Van Veen recovered from a deficit against Ryan Searle.

How Luke Humphries beat Jermaine Wattimena

Humphries, the world number two in BBC Sport's report, won 3-0 against Wattimena. The straight-sets score concealed a closer opening set: according to Dartn.de, Wattimena missed two set darts at double 20 before Humphries finished 88 to take it. Humphries then won the second set 3-1 and the third 3-2.

Dartn.de recorded a 94.11 three-dart average for Humphries, compared with 85.33 for Wattimena, and said Humphries hit 23 of his 33 attempts at finishing doubles. Those figures help explain how he kept control of a match in which Wattimena had chances, especially in the first set. BBC Sport described Humphries' overall victory as comfortable.

Wade beats Bunting as Van Veen comes back against Searle

Wade defeated Stephen Bunting 3-1. He won the first two sets, lost the third and took the fourth, BBC Sport reported. Dartn.de listed a 93.20 average for Wade and 96.29 for Bunting. Bunting's higher average did not change the set result: Wade won three of the four sets played and remains in contention for a third World Grand Prix title.

Van Veen had a more difficult route to his meeting with Wade. Ryan Searle moved 2-1 ahead after taking the second and third sets, but Van Veen won the fourth and then the deciding fifth for a 3-2 victory. Dartn.de's set scores show Van Veen took that final set 3-0 after the match had swung Searle's way.

BBC Sport noted that Van Veen had reached the PDC World Championship final in January, where he lost to Luke Littler. That earlier final supplies context for his progress here, but Thursday's result turned on his recovery against Searle. Wade, meanwhile, has previously won this tournament twice; Friday's match will decide which of them reaches the semi-finals.

World Grand Prix quarter-final draw and format

The other quarter-finals are Nathan Aspinall against Ryan Joyce and Gerwyn Price against Jonny Clayton. The four matches were scheduled for Friday, 2 October, with a 19:00 BST session start listed by BBC Sport. The BBC said the order of play had yet to be confirmed, so the published pairings did not establish which match would be played first.

The World Grand Prix's double-in, double-out rule shapes every match: a player must hit a double before scoring in a leg and must finish on a double. Dartn.de lists the quarter-finals as best of five sets, with each set best of five legs and no tie-break. That format makes the missed starting and finishing doubles described in Thursday's match reports consequential to the set scores.

Friday's scheduled matches will determine the four semi-finalists. As of the Thursday result reports, Humphries was due to play Zonneveld and Wade was due to play Van Veen; no quarter-final outcome was established by those reports. Humphries reached last year's final, losing to Littler, and now has a route back to the semi-finals if he wins his next match.