Grand Slam of Darts

The eighteenth edition of the Grand Slam of Darts was held in Wolverhampton from 9 to 17 November. It was a tournament with many surprises, but not with a surprising winner: Luke Littler.

During the Grand Slam of Darts there are always striking results in the group stage, but this year the surprises are piling up: Luke Humphries, Peter Wright, Dave Chisnall, Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen do not survive the group stage. In contrast, Martin Lukeman, Ritchie Edhouse and Jermaine Wattimena become group winners.

Mickey Mansell wins against James Wade and Rowby-John Rodriguez and finishes second in a group with title holder Luke Humphries. Cameron Menzies seems to be eliminated after the group stage, but partly due to missed doubles by Martin Schindler against Danny Noppert, the Scot still goes through to the knockout stage. Wessel Nijman is perhaps the best player from the group stage, but he goes home with three defeats. His averages of 106.51, 105.39 and 111.10 break all records, but cause defeats against Stephen Bunting (5-2), Josh Rock (5-3) and Gian van Veen (5-4). Van Veen also has a very nice start to the tournament with averages of 110.39, 114.71 and 103.99.

There are still three Dutch players in the tournament in the last sixteen: Danny Noppert, Jermaine Wattimena and Gian van Veen. Noppert loses 10-7 to a surprisingly strong Mickey Mansell. Wattimena (against Dimitri van den Bergh) and Van Veen (against Ryan Joyce) do advance to the quarter finals. These also include Luke Littler (who wins 10-9 against Mike de Decker after a comeback) and Cameron Menzies (who wins 10-9 against James Wade). Menzies plays the full number of legs (31) again in the quarter finals, but loses 16-15 to Mickey Mansell, who is in the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time.

The match between Gary Anderson and Gian van Veen is also an exciting one: Van Veen stays in the match for a long time, but eventually has to leave the victory to Anderson with 16-14. Luke Littler beats Jermaine Wattimena in record time with 16-2 and Martin Lukeman continues his good form with a victory over Rob Cross (16-11).

The first semi-final is between Martin Lukeman and Mickey Mansell: who will go to a major final for the first time? In the end, Lukeman manages to beat the Northern Irishman with 16-12. The other semi-final is an absolute cracker that goes back and forth: Luke Littler and Gary Anderson make it an absolute spectacle. After thirty legs, the score is 15-15. Littler, however, throws a better last leg than Anderson, which means the young Englishman goes to the final.

The English duel in the final between Littler and Lukeman will never be exciting. Littler is supreme and leaves his compatriot without a chance in the final. He throws an average of 107.08 and with a 16-3 victory he deservedly wins his first title at the Grand Slam of Darts. With that he is also in the top 5 of the Order of Merit for the first time.