Humphries beats Littler to win Players Championship

Luke Littler maintained his brilliant form to reach the Players Championship semi-finals in Minehead with a 10-3 win over Mike de Decker.

World champion Luke Humphries is through to the other side of the last four after beating Ryan Joyce 10-5.

It sets up the tantalising prospect of the pair meeting again in the final 10 months after Humphries won the World Championship by beating Littler, who gained revenge when winning the Premier League in May.

Littler sealed victory in his quarter-final with a bullseye finish to check out on 124, leaving his opponent to shake his head and smile at his opponent’s smooth dominance.

“I’m very happy with another good performance. I’m still young – I just enjoy every minute of it on the big stage. Confidence is very high, my darts are going in so well,” the English teenager told ITV4.

Littler is seeking his 11th title of his first professional year and second major TV ranking triumph this month after claiming the Grand Slam trophy a week ago.

He will play Ross Smith - who averaged 105.26 in his 10-3 win over Scott Williams - for a place in the final, which also takes place on Sunday evening.

World number one Humphries will look to raise his game in the semi-finals against Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode, a 10-9 winner over Conor Scutt.

The 28-year-old only hit 10 of his 32 doubles in the win over Joyce, where he averaged 95.50.

"I got the job done and hopefully I've saved a lot for tonight. Everyone wants to see me against Luke (Littler), but it's anyone's game," said Humphries.

Littler averaged 103.73 with a 59% checkout success against World Grand Prix champion De Decker.

It was a rematch after the Englishman came back from 8-4 down to win their Grand Slam encounter 10-9, but the Belgian did not reach the same level this time and Littler rarely looked threatened after breaking his opponent’s first throw.

Littler was so dominant that when he calmly checked out on 85 with a bullseye to go 8-3 ahead, De Decker could only smile to himself.

It was one of three bull finishes for Littler, now provisionally up another place to fourth in the PDC’s Order of Merit, having been ranked 164 a year ago.

Littler, who grew up in Warrington, Cheshire, is the bookmakers’ favourite for the World Championship. The draw takes place on Monday (16:30 GMT) for the event, which starts on 15 December.

Quarter-finals

Luke Littler 10-3 Mike de Decker

Scott Williams 3-10 Ross Smith

Connor Scutt 9-10 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Luke Humphries 10-5 Ryan Joyce

Semi-finals (from 19:00 GMT)

Littler v Smith

Van Duijvenbode v Humphries

Youth final

Gian van Veen v Jurjen van der Velde

Players Championship final to follow