Luke Humphries began his World Darts Championship title bid with a 3-1 victory over Ted Evetts on Saturday, as Paul Lim and Gary Anderson also advanced to round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries, champion in 2023\/2024, headlined the action at the Alexandra Palace and didn’t disappoint, crashing in eight 180s on the way to his round one triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries raced into a 2-0 lead with an average in excess of 105, restricting Evetts to just a sole attempt at a double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Evetts rallied and claimed the third set, but the world number two saw out the final stanza in convincing fashion to confirm his place in round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That’s probably the best I’ve played in the opening round of the World Championship ever,” said Humphries, who will now play veteran star Lim in round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I got a little bit comfortable, but I managed to win the game. I’m not going to think that because I had one bad set that my performance wasn’t good enough – I’m going to take the positives.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries will face Lim in round two, their first meeting since Lim beat the world number two on the opening round at Alexandra Palace five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Paul Lim and I get on well, but of course it’s business in the next game,” added Humphries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If I’m scoring the way I did tonight it’s going to be a tough one for him – it’s a game that I relish, playing a legend.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lim set a new record as the oldest player to ever win on the Alexandra Palace stage in his magical 3-1 upset over Jeffrey de Graaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 71-year-old, who first appeared at the PDC’s World Championship in 1997, capitalised on a missed set dart from De Graaf to lead 2-1 before wrapping up the match to a delighted Ally Pally crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What can I say?\u00a0De Graaf is a great player – I just had the opportunity and I took it,” said Lim, who is competing at his 15th edition of the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That’s what keeps me going for all these years, moments like this. This is the biggest stage we have in the sport, it’s the Super Bowl of darts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t know why the crowd were on my side, but I felt the appreciation within myself.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anderson was another former World Champion to secure his progression into round two, fending off a valiant performance from Adam Hunt to win 3-2 and record a 16th opening round win in his 17th appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Scotsman had trailed 2-1, but averaged 108 in the fourth set and crashed in six 180s over the game to secure a comeback win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Thankfully, I got over the line,” said Anderson, who will face Connor Scutt or Simon Whitlock in his next match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There’s a lot of better players now compared to a decade ago. There used be 20 good players, now it’s 128.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I just want to keep going so I can get a shot on the new stage next year.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Wessel Nijman blitzed to a 3-0 hammering of Karel Sedlacek, averaging over a ton and hitting 50% of his double attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutchman, who finished second on the Players Championship rankings this year, hit a 136 checkout to win the first set, setting the tone for his whitewash win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nijman will play Gabriel Clemens in round two, as the former semi-finalist also booked his place in round two with a straight-sets win over Alex Spellman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemens took out a whopping 170 checkout in the second leg and restricted his opponent to just a solitary leg through the contest in the fastest match yet at this year’s World Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Woodhouse advanced to the second round with a 3-1 triumph over Boris Krcmar, coming back from behind after the Croatian star took out 121 on the bullseye to snatch the first set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite trailing, Woodhouse rallied, capitalising on missed darts from Krcmar to win the third set before finishing the job with a 15-dart break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, David Davies fulfilled a dream debut at Alexandra Palace, securing a 3-0 win against Mario Vandenbogaerde to set up a round two clash with defending World Champion Luke Littler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Welshman – an NHS worker and part-time player who won on the Winmau Challenge Tour this year – glided into a 2-0 lead before sealing the straight-sets win on his sixth match dart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding got the better of 2025 Development Tour winner Cam Crabtree, taking a 3-1 victory courtesy of a stronger performance on the outer-ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crabtree had threatened a comeback by winning the fourth set to reduce the deficit to 2-1, but Gilding exhibited an experienced display to win the final set in straight legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The darting action continues with a bumper double-session on Sunday, as former Masters winner Joe Cullen headlines the afternoon session in his match against promising youngster Bradley Brooks – a Players Championship winner this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the evening session, world number four Stephen Bunting faces Sebastian Bialecki in the pick of the bunch, and former UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh locks horns with\u00a0Darren Beveridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Humphries began his World Darts Championship title bid with a 3-1 victory over Ted Evetts on Saturday,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7166,"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-7165","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
Round One: <\/strong>David Davies 3-0 Mario Vandenbogaerde (3-2, 3-0, 3-2); Andrew Gilding 3-1 Cam Crabtree (3-0, 3-0, 2-3, 3-0); Luke Woodhouse 3-1 Boris Krcmar (2-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-1); Gary Anderson 3-2 Adam Hunt (3-2, 2-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-1); Paul Lim 3-1 Jeffrey de Graaf (3-1, 1-3, 3-2, 3-2); Wessel Nijman 3-0 Karel Sedlacek (3-1, 3-1, 3-1); Luke Humphries 3-1 Ted Evetts (3-0, 3-1, 1-3, 3-1); Gabriel Clemens 3-0 Alex Spellman (3-0, 3-0, 3-1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"