Luke Humphries began his bid for a second World Grand Prix title with victory over Nathan Aspinall on the opening night, as Gary Anderson edged out Raymond van Barneveld in a battle of the darting icons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries won through a blockbuster clash against 2022 runner-up Aspinall on Day One of the double-start showpiece, as three seeded stars suffered early exits at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world number one defied a spectacular 170 checkout from Aspinall to win a hard-fought opening set, before powering in a magnificent 156 of his own en route to a straight-sets success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was a big game tonight,”\u00a0reflected 2023 champion Humphries, also the runner-up 12 months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Nathan is a fantastic player, but he let me in a couple of times, and that 156 was massive for myself. My starting doubles were good and they usually are here. My scoring wasn’t as strong, but hopefully I can come back on Wednesday and be better.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries will be joined in round two by 2016 runner-up Anderson, who edged out his old adversary Van Barneveld in a last-leg thriller to book his place in round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Barneveld withstood an early barrage from Anderson to force a deciding set, only for the Scot to produce a late flurry to create a showdown against 2023 semi-finalist Joe Cullen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cullen returned to winning ways on the big stage with a clinical 2-0 win against James Wade, pinning six of his 11 darts at a finishing double to dump out the two-time champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen Bunting produced the performance of Monday’s opening night, however, averaging 97, landing five 180s and converting 116 and 130 finishes in his straight-sets win over Niko Springer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bunting will now play Danny Noppert in round two, after the Dutch number two landed a 158 checkout to complete a terrific comeback against his fellow countryman Jermaine Wattimena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in the night, Rob Cross edged out debutant Wessel Nijman in a dramatic start to this year’s tournament, surviving a match dart at the bull in the decider to complete a hard-fought victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nijman outscored Cross for large periods of the contest, but the 2017\/18 World Champion delivered on the outer ring, pinning eight of his 16 attempts at a finishing double to progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cameron Menzies awaits Cross in round two, after the Scottish star registered his first victory on the World Grand Prix stage with an impressive straight-sets win against 2019 semi-finalist Chris Dobey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Krzysztof Ratajski raced through to round two with a dominant victory against German number one Martin Schindler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ratajski conceded a solitary leg to triumph with an impressive 95.94 average, although he now faces an ominous assignment against Humphries for a place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Round One will conclude on Tuesday, as Mike De Decker opens his title defence against two-time World Champion Peter Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Littler and Gian van Veen will lock horns in a blockbuster clash, while Michael van Gerwen begins his bid for a seventh double-start crown against his compatriot Dirk van Duijvenbode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former champions Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton and Daryl Gurney also enter the fray, as they take on Ryan Searle, Andrew Gilding and Ross Smith respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Round One:<\/strong> Rob Cross 2-1 Wessel Nijman; Krzysztof Ratajski 2-0 Martin Schindler; Cameron Menzies 2-0 Chris Dobey; Joe Cullen 2-0 James Wade; Danny Noppert 2-1 Jermaine Wattimena; Luke Humphries 2-0 Nathan Aspinall; Gary Anderson 2-1 Raymond van Barneveld; Stephen Bunting 2-0 Niko Springer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke Humphries began his bid for a second World Grand Prix title with victory over Nathan Aspinall on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4257,"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-4256","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