Defending champion Luke Humphries suffered a shock first-round exit at the Players Championship Finals to Gian van Veen on Friday night at Butlin’s Minehead.
Humphries started superbly, racing into a 3-0 lead and looked set to extend it until Van Veen produced a stunning 161 checkout to get on the board. The Dutchman, who had also beaten Humphries in last month’s European Championship final in Dortmund, then won three legs in a row to lead 5-4. Humphries took the next to force a final-leg shootout; Van Veen missed two match darts and a further three in the decider but eventually prevailed to book his spot in round two. It was Van Veen’s fourth straight win over Humphries in 2025.
New world number one Luke Littler, fresh from taking the top spot after his Grand Slam of Darts win, stormed to a 6-1 victory over Jeffrey de Graaf, rattling off six successive legs and averaging 104 in an imposing display.
Elsewhere in the evening session, top seed Gerwyn Price beat Max Hopp 6-2, Josh Rock defeated Gabriel Clemens 6-3, and Martin Schindler handed Michael Smith a 6-4 defeat. Stephen Bunting, Nathan Aspinall, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright also recorded comfortable wins.
Players Championship Finals – evening session results
Main Stage
– Martin Schindler 6-4 Michael Smith
– Josh Rock 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
– Gerwyn Price 6-2 Max Hopp
– Stephen Bunting 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse
– Luke Littler 6-1 Jeffrey de Graaf
– Gian van Veen 6-5 Luke Humphries
– Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
– Chris Dobey 6-1 Keane Barry
Stage Two
– Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Wesley Plaisier
– Ryan Searle 6-1 Darren Beveridge
– Richard Veenstra 6-5 Wessel Nijman
– Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Raymond van Barneveld
– Madars Razma 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
– Gary Anderson 6-2 Mario Vandenbogaerde
– Peter Wright 6-3 Joe Cullen
– Justin Hood 6-4 Damon Heta
Afternoon session: Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall and Jonny Clayton all exited, while James Wade progressed to the second round. James Hurrell produced a major upset by defeating former finalist Jonny Clayton with a 99.2 average. Wade beat Mickey Mansell 6-3, averaging 94.7 and hitting 50% on the doubles; he later said he was “a little bit disheartened” after a frosty handshake at the end of the match.
Cam Crabtree capitalised on 17 missed darts at doubles from Mike De Decker, including six match darts, to snatch a 6-5 win. Ryan Joyce punished a struggling Dave Chisnall to win 6-4. Sebastian Bialecki defeated Rob Cross 6-2, producing a high checkout of 154. Grand Slam semi-finalist Danny Noppert won 6-2 over Ricky Evans with a 103.8 average and a 164 high checkout. Debutant Adam Lipscombe thrashed Cameron Menzies 6-1. There were also wins for Ross Smith, Andrew Gilding, Scott Williams and Bradley Brooks.
Players Championship Finals – afternoon session results
Main Stage
– Sebastian Bialecki 6-2 Rob Cross
– Ryan Joyce 6-4 Dave Chisnall
– Cam Crabtree 6-5 Mike De Decker
– Danny Noppert 6-2 Ricky Evans
– James Wade 6-3 Mickey Mansell
– James Hurrell 6-3 Jonny Clayton
– Ross Smith 6-1 Ryan Meikle
Stage Two
– Bradley Brooks 6-1 Martin Lukeman
– Andrew Gilding 6-5 Dom Taylor
– Scott Williams 6-2 Ian White
– Nick Kenny 6-4 Niels Zonneveld
– Callan Rydz 6-4 Kevin Doets
– Adam Lipscombe 6-1 Cameron Menzies
– Daryl Gurney 6-3 Brendan Dolan
– Luke Woodhouse 6-2 Alan Soutar
– Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 William O’Connor
Who will win the 2026 World Darts Championship? Watch every match live from December 11–January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel.