The reigning world champion’s last 16 exit means Luke Littler is now the clear favourite at Alexandra Palace
Reigning champion Luke Humphries was dumped out of the World Darts Championship to make Luke Littler the runaway favourite for this year’s Sid Waddell Trophy.
Peter Wright produced his finest display since winning at Alexandra Palace three years ago to storm past world No 1 Humphries 4-1, hitting 70 per cent of his doubles and averaging nearly 101.
Humphries was not at his best but this was certainly not a poor performance – Wright needed to be at the peak of his powers to win this last 16 tie.
But this is a victory of seismic proportions, one which fundamentally alters the complexion of this World Championship. All roads appeared to lead to a semi-final between Humphries and Littler on 2 January, but Wright will now face either world No 8 Stephen Bunting or Luke Woodhouse on New Year’s Day in the last eight.
After two years of struggling for form and repeated questions surrounding his future in the game, not helped by a second-round exit in last year’s competition and two years propping up the Premier League table, “Snakebite” will take this as vindication he still belongs at the top of the game.
And he had been telling the world as much. Much of the pre-match conversation was dominated by a so-called “war of words” between the pair, with Humphries slamming Wright’s “mind games”.
“Luckily I wasn’t playing Luke Humphries from last year because he was awesome,” Wright told Sky Sports post-match.
“I’m a double world champion and I want to win it for a third time. I’m not too old and you only have to play well for two or three weeks the whole year. These three weeks are all that matters and I’m in the quarter-finals.
“I thought I played rubbish tonight so hopefully I can play better and score better in the next round. As long as this crowd is behind me, I’ve got a chance.”