Luke Humphries continued his Leicester love-affair to clinch his fourth Players Championship title of the campaign last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries defeated Niels Zonneveld 8-4 to celebrate Players Championship 33 glory, as he made his first appearance at the Mattioli Arena since lifting his second World Grand Prix title last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 31-year-old has now prevailed in three of his four Players Championship appearances in Leicester this season, marking the perfect preparation for the upcoming Grand Slam of Darts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe way I\u2019ve been the last few weeks, it\u2019s an unexpected win for myself,\u201d admitted Humphries, who was forced to withdraw from the recent European Championship through illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was more about coming back and seeing what my energy levels were like, because I\u2019ve been very ill the past few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d never miss a major if I could play. I was devastated. I was on a good run after winning the World Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFour Players Championship wins, a Euro Tour, the World Grand Prix, a win on the World Series, I\u2019ve done some good things this year. I think my yearly average is better than it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI still want to win another major. If it\u2019s not the Grand Slam or Players Championship Finals, then I want it to be the World Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the thing I really search for now, is to try and put my name in the legacy of some of the greatest there has ever been. I am far away from that yet, so I need to try and win a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries followed up an inauspicious 6-2 success over Archie Self with consecutive whitewash wins against Darius Labanauskas and Tom Bissell, averaging 106 and 110 in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world number three maintained his charge with back-to-back 6-2 victories against Steve Lennon and Gerwyn Price, before defying a 106.75 average from Gary Anderson to triumph in an epic semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries produced a brace of 12-dart breaks to seize the initiative against Zonneveld in Wednesday\u2019s showpiece, before capping off a classy display with an 11-dart hold to triumph with a 103.77 average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zonneveld \u2013 featuring in his second ranking final of 2026 – opened his challenge with a trio of 6-4 wins, which included a 107.14 average in a terrific encounter against Jack Aldridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The newly crowned Dutch Darts Champion then overcame his fellow countrymen Jeffrey de Zwaan, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Michael van Gerwen, defeating the latter 7-5 in a compelling last four tie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen reaffirmed his credentials with a sublime 114.15 average in his quarter-final whitewash of Danny Noppert, advancing to the semi-finals alongside two-time World Champion Anderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Scottish icon dumped out Rob Cross, Wessel Nijman and Raymond van Barneveld in reaching the last four; moving him into the provisional Players Championship Finals field as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it was also a terrific day for Dutch legend Van Barneveld, who took a huge step towards World Championship qualification with a run to his second ProTour quarter-final of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The five-time World Champion was joined in the last eight by his compatriots Van Duijvenbode and Noppert, with Price completing the line-up to confirm his spot at the Players Championship Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Henry Coates currently occupies the final provisional place at Minehead, having produced ton-plus averages in wins over James Wade and Mervyn King, only to succumb to Price in round three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 20-year-old has subsequently moved into the provisional World Championship places at the expense of David Sharp, who was on the receiving end of a nine-darter in his defeat to Tommy Lishman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2026 PDC ProTour season reaches its climax with Players Championship 34 on Thursday, as the Players Championship Finals race draws to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Quarter-Finals<\/strong> Semi-Finals<\/strong> Final<\/strong> Nine-Darter!<\/strong> Luke Humphries continued his Leicester love-affair to clinch his fourth Players Championship title of the campaign last night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8631,"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":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-17437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\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\n\t\t
Last 16
<\/strong>Gary Anderson 6-4 Wessel Nijman
Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 Tyler Thorpe
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Luke Woodhouse
Luke Humphries 6-2 Steve Lennon
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Ross Smith
Niels Zonneveld 6-1 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Tommy Morris
Danny Noppert 6-3 Brendan Dolan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gary Anderson 6-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Luke Humphries 6-2 Gerwyn Price
Niels Zonneveld 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Danny Noppert<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Humphries 7-4 Gary Anderson
Niels Zonneveld 7-5 Michael van Gerwen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Humphries 8-4 Niels Zonneveld<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tommy Lishman hit a nine-darter in his round one tie against David Sharp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"