World Matchplay

The 31st edition of the World Matchplay was held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool from 13 to 21 July. The top 16 of the Order of Merit + the top 16 of the ProTour Order of Merit battled it out for the title. Ultimately, it was Luke Humphries who won the title for the first time, after a final victory over three-time winner Michael van Gerwen.

Four Dutch players participate in Blackpool. After the first round, only one of them remains: Danny Noppert loses 10-5 to James Wade, Raymond van Barneveld falls short against Jonny Clayton (10-7) and Gian van Veen loses after six missed match darts 13- 12 against Rob Cross. Only Michael van Gerwen manages to reach the second round: in the battle of the first round he wins a good match against Luke Littler (10-6).

The playing times for day 2 of the World Matchplay will be adjusted, as the England football team will play the final of the European Championship in the evening. The evening session of the Matchplay ended a few minutes before the start of the final. Dave Chisnall contributes well to this, by playing his match against Krysztof Ratajski poorly and loses 10-2. On the same evening, former winner Peter Wright lost 10-5 to Andrew Gilding. Luke Humphries starts the tournament with a 10-4 win over Ricardo Pietreczko.

As the only remaining Dutchman, Michael van Gerwen will play against Joe Cullen in the second round. Van Gerwen wins 11-8 and qualifies for the quarter-finals. Luke Humphries wins the English match against Stephen Bunting (11-7) and Ross Smith beats Gerwyn Price 11-9. James Wade plays a great match against title holder Nathan Aspinall and beats 'The Asp' 11-8.

Six Englishmen, a Belgian and a Dutchman will then take action during the quarter-finals. The Belgian (Dimitri van den Bergh) loses 16-10 against Luke Humphries. The Dutchman (Michael van Gerwen) has a difficult match against Andrew Gilding, but manages to win the game: 16-10. Michael Smith has surprisingly an easy match against Rob Cross (16-7), while James Wade crowned his strong tournament with a place in the semi-finals. He beat Ross Smith 16-10 in a match in which he hit 13 180s. In the first two rounds together he had only thrown the maximum score three times.

The two semi-finals are exciting. Both Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen see their opponents stick around for a long time, but eventually drop out. James Wade throws an average of 102.38 against Luke Humphries, making it the highest average in the last three rounds. Yet he loses 17-10, meaning Humphries goes to the World Matchplay final for the first time. Here he plays against Michael van Gerwen. Van Gerwen, who will play the final for the fifth time, has a difficult time against Michael Smith but manages to put his English opponent aside 17-13. With a crucial 136 finish, MVG managed to make the difference at a difficult moment in the match, after which he skillfully secured the victory.

The final between numbers 1 and 2 on the seeding list will be a very exciting one. Throughout the match it is Humphries who is in control and plays better. Yet the world champion never manages to make the difference more than 1 break, which means Van Gerwen can keep hope for his fourth Matchplay title for a long time. However, in the final phase of the match he misses too many doubles, meaning that it is Humphries who wins the final 18-15. With this, the number 1 in the world takes his fifth major title in a year and he can lift the Phil Taylor Trophy for the first time.