Luke Littler and Luke Humphries produced superb doubling displays to book their spots in round five of the UK Open, as former champion Danny Noppert achieved perfection on a thrilling opening day in Minehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u00a3750,000 event saw 125 matches played across eight stages on a marathon day at Butlin’s Minehead Resort. The opening four rounds were held across a bumper double session, as the 157-player field was whittled down to 32 by the conclusion of Friday’s play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reigning champion Littler began his bid for back-to-back titles with a 10-3 drubbing of Damon Heta, avenging his defeat to the Australian number one in the 2024 quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world number one produced a sparkling 170 finish en route to victory, which was preceded by a magnificent 132 combination – featuring two bullseyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries also impressed in his opener against Luke Woodhouse, averaging 105 and registering four ton-plus checkouts to begin his bid for a maiden UK Open crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the performance of the day was produced by 2018 champion Gary Anderson, who averaged 107.42 and crashed in eight 180s in his 10-6 success against Dirk van Duijvenbode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anderson was one of six former champions to progress to Saturday’s action, with Michael van Gerwen, James Wade and Peter Wright joining Littler and Noppert in round five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noppert produced a moment of magic in his clash against Dimitri Van den Bergh, landing a spectacular nine-darter to triumph 10-4 in a battle of the former UK Open winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen, meanwhile, averaged 101 in accounting for 2019 champion Nathan Aspinall in a high-quality encounter, while three-time champion Wade edged past Chris Dobey in a last-leg thriller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wright defeated Darius Labanauskas and Cameron Menzies to kick-start his title challenge, as Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton eased through in resounding fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World Championship runner-up Gian van Veen was the highest-ranked casualty on Friday evening, succumbing 10-7 to a resurgent Rob Cross in a contest which saw both players average 101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wessel Nijman also averaged over a ton in his demolition of two-time winner Raymond van Barneveld, who survived five match darts to edge past Czechia’s Karel Sedlacek earlier in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen Bunting overcame French trailblazer Thibault Tricole in his opening round tie, while Josh Rock returned to winning ways with an epic deciding-leg victory over Ireland’s William O’Connor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel Clemens prevailed in similar fashion, taking out 145 to stun Richard Veenstra in a last-leg thriller and advance alongside his compatriots Martin Schindler, Dominik Gruellich and Kai Gotthardt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
German number one Schindler ran out a 10-8 winner against Joe Cullen, while Gruellich and Gotthardt won seven matches between them to mark their best runs in a TV ranking event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leon Weber was unable to join his fellow countrymen after losing out to 2022 runner-up Michael Smith, with 2023 UK Open winner Andrew Gilding exiting at the hands of former European Champion Ross Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TV title winners Daryl Gurney, Mike De Decker and Mensur Suljovic also enjoyed winning starts in Minehead, alongside former UK Open semi-finalists Dave Chisnall and Keane Barry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There will be a continental flavour to Saturday afternoon’s line-up, with Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski progressing alongside Latvia’s Madars Razma and Sweden’s Oskar Lukasiak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World Championship semi-finalist Ryan Searle opened his title challenge in successful style, before Kevin Doets averaged almost 99 in dumping out Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan Joyce ended Charlie Manby’s promising run in round four, as Martin Lukeman and Darryl Pilgrim completed the round five line-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The draw for round five was made live on the Main Stage at the conclusion of Friday night’s action, with Littler pitted against Doets in an eye-catching affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries will play six-time TV finalist Chisnall, while Anderson and Schindler go head-to-head and Price faces Nijman in arguably the tie of the round. Round Two: <\/strong>Sebastian Bialecki 6-5 Christian Kist; Tom Bissell 6-2 Jimmy van Schie; Darryl Pilgrim 6-4 Beau Greaves; Pascal Rupprecht 6-5 Cam Crabtree; Thomas Lovely 6-4 Shane McGuirk; Adam Gawlas 6-0 Tavis Dudeney; Jim Long 6-0 Tytus Kanik; Sam Spivey 6-5 Max Hopp; Rob Owen 6-4 Stefaan Henderyck; Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Maximilian Czerwinski; Greg Ritchie 6-3 Adam Leek; Leon Weber 6-5 Jurjen van der Velde; Owen Bates 6-4 Wesley Plaisier; Oskar Lukasiak 6-2 Rhys Griffin; Henry Coates 6-4 Adam Paxton; Charlie Manby 6-2 Tyler Thorpe; Niall Culleton BYE (Viktor Tingstrom has withdrawn due to personal reasons); Adam Warner 6-5 Ron Meulenkamp; Dominik Gruellich 6-1 Jamai van den Herik; Cristo Reyes 6-1 Sietse Lap; Patrik Williams 6-5 Cor Dekker; Scott Campbell 6-1 Dennie Olde Kalter; Alexander Merkx 6-2 Marvin van Velzen; Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-3 Chris Landman; Andy Boulton 6-4 Mervyn King; Michael Unterbuchner 6-5 Maik Kuivenhoven; Benjamin Pratnemer 6-1 Samuel Whittaker; Kai Gotthardt 6-2 Marvin Kraft; Adam Lipscombe 6-0 Jack Todd; Bradley Brooks 6-5 Oliver King; Tom Sykes 6-4 Arno Merk; Stephen Rosney 6-4 Stephen Burton<\/p>\n\n\n\n Round Three: <\/strong>Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Karel Sedlacek; Ricky Evans 6-2 Brendan Dolan; Peter Wright 6-3 Darius Labanauskas; Kevin Doets 6-4 Ricardo Pietreczko; Gabriel Clemens 6-4 Sebastian Bialecki; Keane Barry 6-5 Kim Huybrechts; Joe Cullen 6-3 Pascal Rupprecht; Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Lukas Wenig; Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Tom Bissell; Connor Scutt 6-3 Jeffrey Sparidaans; Alexander Merkx 6-5 Sam Spivey; Jeffrey de Graaf 6-1 Adam Warner; Jim Long 6-5 Callan Rydz; Darryl Pilgrim 6-5 Rob Owen; Kai Gotthardt 6-4 Niko Springer; William O’Connor 6-4 Ryan Meikle; Adam Lipscombe 6-5 Nick Kenny; Andy Boulton 6-4 Patrik Williams; Henry Coates 6-4 Michael Unterbuchner; Leon Weber 6-5 Mario Vandenbogaerde; Richard Veenstra 6-4 Alan Soutar; Greg Ritchie 6-5 Mickey Mansell; Thibault Tricole 6-4 Stephen Rosney; Tom Sykes 6-4 Cristo Reyes; Madars Razma 6-2 Adam Gawlas; Dominik Gruellich 6-4 Justin Hood; Oskar Lukasiak 6-3 Bradley Brooks; Charlie Manby 6-4 James Hurrell; Martin Lukeman 6-4 Thomas Lovely; Scott Campbell 6-2 Ian White; Niall Culleton 6-4 Owen Bates; Benjamin Pratnemer 6-4 Scott Williams Luke Littler and Luke Humphries produced superb doubling displays to book their spots in round five of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-10246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
RESULTS<\/strong>
Round One: <\/strong>Charlie Manby 6-3 Stefan Bellmont; Sam Spivey 6-2 Kyle Gilding; Pascal Rupprecht 6-1 Jenson Walker; Mervyn King 6-4 Aden Kirk; Michael Unterbuchner 6-5 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez; Adam Leek 6-5 David Sharp; Rhys Griffin 6-2 Filip Bereza; Stephen Burton 6-2 Jake Eichen; Cristo Reyes 6-3 Graham Usher; Tyler Thorpe 6-0 Pero Ljubic; Kai Gotthardt 6-4 Daniel Lee; Jack Todd 6-4 Carl Sneyd; Stephen Rosney 6-5 Clive Langford; Alexander Merkx 6-3 Jannis Barkhausen; Tom Sykes 6-2 Sean Ryan; Sietse Lap 6-3 Ted Evetts; Samuel Whittaker 6-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan; Oliver King 6-3 Ryan Branley; Benjamin Pratnemer 6-3 Callum Goffin; Darius Labanauskas 6-4 Callum Francis; Owen Bates 6-3 Yorick Hofkens; Niall Culleton 6-3 Lewis Pearse; Jamai van den Herik 6-3 Graham Hall; Jurjen van der Velde 6-4 Jack Tweddell; Arno Merk 6-5 James Beeton; Scott Campbell BYE (Danny van Trijp withdrew due to personal reasons); Ron Meulenkamp 6-2 Samuel Price; Jeffrey Sparidaans 6-4 Scott Waites; Patrik Williams 6-4 Simon Stevenson; Marvin Kraft BYE (Matthias Ehlers withdrew due to injury); Chris Landman 6-2 Nathan Potter; Henry Coates 6-3 Neil Wild<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Round Four: <\/strong>Rob Cross 10-7 Gian van Veen; Luke Humphries 10-3 Luke Woodhouse; Luke Littler 10-3 Damon Heta; Michael van Gerwen 10-8 Nathan Aspinall; Danny Noppert 10-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh; Martin Schindler 10-8 Joe Cullen; Gary Anderson 10-6 Dirk van Duijvenbode; James Wade 10-9 Chris Dobey; Mensur Suljovic 10-5 Jermaine Wattimena; Michael Smith 10-8 Leon Weber; Oskar Lukasiak 10-7 Benjamin Pratnemer; Keane Barry 10-2 Henry Coates; Gerwyn Price 10-3 Greg Ritchie; Martin Lukeman 10-6 Ritchie Edhouse; Ross Smith 10-4 Andrew Gilding; Kai Gotthardt 10-8 Tom Sykes; Dominik Gruellich 10-8 Niall Culleton; Krzysztof Ratajski 10-4 Ricky Evans; Madars Razma 10-9 Jim Long; Peter Wright 10-6 Cameron Menzies; Kevin Doets 10-5 Jeffrey de Graaf; Stephen Bunting 10-5 Thibault Tricole; Daryl Gurney 10-7 Niels Zonneveld; Ryan Joyce 10-6 Charlie Manby; Gabriel Clemens 10-9 Richard Veenstra; Wessel Nijman 10-1 Raymond van Barneveld; Darryl Pilgrim 10-5 Connor Scutt; Josh Rock 10-9 William O’Connor; Jonny Clayton 10-2 Alexander Merkx; Ryan Searle 10-7 Andy Boulton; Mike De Decker 10-8 Adam Lipscombe; Dave Chisnall 10-5 Scott Campbell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"