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Humphries Wins World Masters Final Epic Against Clayton

Humphries Wins World Masters Final Epic Against Clayton

Alex Moss |

A Week In Darts - February 3, 2025 - Humphries Survives Clayton Fightback To Lift The World Masters Title

There was a thrilling conclusion to the revamped PDC World Masters with the final clash between Luke Humphries and Jonny Clayton going all the way to a sudden-death leg. Here’s our round-up of all the action...

HUMPHRIES BECOMES A WORLD MASTER

Luke Humphries held off a brave fightback from Jonny Clayton to win the PDC World Masters in Milton Keynes on Sunday night.

The world number one looked to be in cruise control as he raced into a 5-2 lead in sets, before Clayton battled back with three straight sets to send the final to an 11th and deciding set.

In a nail-biting final set, Clayton broke throw in the first leg, only for Humphries to return the favour to set up a sudden-death leg for the £100,000 top prize.

And it was the top seed Humphries who would make the advantage of having the throw count, hitting back-to-back 140s before eventually clinching the title on tops to secure the seventh major title of his career.

“I am a lucky lucky boy,” Humphries admitted. “I think I was very fortunate there.

“I started to feel the nerves when I was 5-2 up and I started to miss doubles. I was trying too hard to close the game out.

“Jonny was coming back at me, and when he went five-all I thought the game was gone for me.

“That double top (to win), I must admit I was shaking, my heart was pounding but it went in so I am really really pleased. It is really nice to be the first name on the rejuvenated Winmau World Masters trophy.”

The first iteration of the revamped tournament, formerly known as the Masters, saw 150 players start out on Wednesday with 24 different nations represented in an expanded field.

On Saturday night, Dimitri Van den Bergh lit up the World Masters with a nine-dart leg on his way to knocking out Michael van Gerwen in the last 16.

The tournament concluded on Sunday with Clayton dumping out the pre-tournament favourite Luke Littler 4-2 in the quarter-finals.

‘The Ferret’ was in fine form all weekend, averaging 112.77 in a 3-1 victory over Martin Schindler in the last 32, before defying a 108.50 average from Littler in a high-quality last eight encounter.

DUTCH OPEN SUCCESS FOR SPARIDAANS AND O’SULLIVAN

Jeffrey Sparidaans and Rhian O’Sullivan secured automatic spots in the 2025 WDF Lakeside World Championships after tasting success at the Dutch Open on Sunday.

The biggest open tournament in world darts attracted a record field of entries with more than 4,600 players competing in events held over the weekend in Assen.

Sparidaans, who lost his PDC tour card at the end of last year, won the men’s singles with a 3-0 victory in sets against the American David Fatum in the final.

The Dutchman won 13 matches in a row to come through a large field of entries and survived a scare in the last 64, as his opponent Corne Groeneveld missed six match darts to knock him out in a last-leg decider.

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan got her hands on the Dutch Open women’s singles for the first time after beating home favourite Lerena Rietbergen 5-2 in the final.

The Welsh captain also survived match darts on the way to the title, coming through a tense deciding leg against former champion Aileen de Graaf in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals, O’Sullivan took out finishes of 100, 96 and 98 on her way to knocking out the defending champion Beau Greaves in a last-leg decider.

The two-time Women’s World Championship finalist also won the women’s warm up singles on the Thursday, posting a 96 average in the final to win the first of her two titles last week.

JOHNSON WINS JDC SUPER 16 TITLE

Jack Johnson became the youngest winner of the JDC Super 16 title after the 13-year-old beat Jayden Walker 5-3 in Sunday’s final in Milton Keynes.

The Kent teenager took out finishes of 103 and 151 on his way to the title as he joined an elite roll of honour for one of the JDC’s flagship events, which also includes reigning PDC world champion Luke Littler and PDC professional Keane Barry.

The youngest ever Super 16 champion was guaranteed to be crowned at the weekend, as 12-year-old Walker took on Johnson in the decider, and the Dorset youngster made the perfect start with a 113 finish to break the throw in the opening leg of the final.

However, Johnson rallied with four straight legs, including two 100+ finishes of his own, to take control of the tie and, after Walker responded with two legs to close the gap to one, it was Johnson who got over the line on double 12 to run out a 5-3 winner.

Picture: Taylor Lanning/PDC

Alex Moss is a content creator for Darts Corner and the co-host of the Weekly Dartscast podcast. Alex co-founded the Weekly Dartscast in 2017 and has helped produce 350+ episodes of the podcast, with their list of previous guests on the show a who’s who in the world of darts.

Alex also writes content for the Darts Corner blog, including the weekly darts news round-ups and how-to guides.

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