Luke Humphries advanced into round two of the World Grand Prix with a straight-sets victory over Dave Chisnall on Tuesday, as Gian van Veen also progressed in Leicester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day Two of the \u00a3750,000 double-start tournament saw the final eight round one matches take place at the Mattioli Arena, with 2023 champion Humphries returning to winning ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world number two came out on top of a sluggish affair against Chisnall thanks to superior doubling-in, despite the pair both hitting under 27% of their check out attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was arguably one of my worst performances on the World Grand Prix stage,\u201d considered Humphries, who averaged 80.41, his lowest average in the tournament since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel comfortable throughout the whole game, and I felt like Dave wasn\u2019t at his best there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I won the title the first time, I had games where I didn\u2019t really play very well, but I made the final and I played really well, so I don\u2019t care how I win, as long as I do!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wattimena – Humphries\u2019 opponent in round two – also sealed a straight-sets win, condemning Chris Dobey to a third consecutive round one exit at the double-start event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fellow Dutchman Van Veen picked up a career-first win on the World Grand Prix stage, downing Dirk van Duijvenbode 2-0 after a dominant start to the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutch number one took the opening five legs to storm within one leg of a rampant victory, but had to withstand two set darts and a valiant fightback from Van Duijvenbode before closing out the win with a clutch 69 combination finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA couple of months ago I would have lost that game,\u201d reflected Van Veen, who had an outstanding 80% success rate with his double-in attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that dart at double 16 [for the match] showed how much confidence I have in my own game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would have probably missed that a couple of months ago because I was doubting myself, and I think this is a big step for myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why that 69 finish meant so much to me, because I knew if I missed that it would have probably been 1-1, and I would have been in big trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan Searle awaits Van Veen in the last 16, after the World Championship semi-finalist was forced to survive four match darts against William O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Irish number one’s misery will be exacerbated by the fact he won more legs than Searle across the set-play contest, while averaging six points more than eventual victor Searle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scottish number one Gary Anderson also survived a match dart against Damon Heta, taking out a skin-saving 115 finish to level the contest at one set apiece before reeling three more consecutive legs to deny the Australian number one a first World Grand Prix win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was panicking, but that 115 saved me!\u201d confessed Anderson, who will face debutant Niels Zonneveld on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was kicking off well and I think I outscored him throughout the whole game, but it when it went to 2-2 in that second set, I thought \u2018oh here we go!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m at the stage now where I do love a game of darts, but there\u2019s no pressure on me whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zonneveld produced an inspired display to see off Northern Irish number one Josh Rock on debut, producing outshots of 103, 116 and 133 in the deciding set to prevail 2-1 with aplomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James Wade marked his 22nd consecutive World Grand Prix appearance with a comeback win over Joe Cullen, recovering from an erratic start to win six of the last eight legs and progress to round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wade will play Stephen Bunting in their first big stage clash since the 2021 World Grand Prix, as the former Masters winners sealed a 2-1 victory over Andrew Gilding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong> Luke Humphries advanced into round two of the World Grand Prix with a straight-sets victory over Dave Chisnall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-16127","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\n\t\t
Round One<\/strong>
Jermaine Wattimena 2-0 Chris Dobey (3-1, 3-2)
Ryan Searle 2-1 William O\u2019Connor (3-2, 0-3, 3-2)
Niels Zonneveld 2-1 Josh Rock (3-1, 2-3, 3-1)
James Wade 2-1 Joe Cullen (1-3, 3-1, 3-1)
Gary Anderson 2-1 Damon Heta (1-3, 3-1, 3-0)
Gian van Veen 2-0 Dirk van Duijvenbode (3-0, 3-2)
Luke Humphries 2-0 Dave Chisnall (3-1, 3-1)
Stephen Bunting 2-1 Andrew Gilding (3-1, 1-3, 3-1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"