Luke Humphries names four darts stars he’d love to face in World Championship final | Other | Sport

Luke Humphries has played down suggestions that he’s been licking his lips while watching seeded players continue to crash out of the World Darts Championship at the first hurdle. In the second round at Alexandra Palace – the opening match for the 32 seeds – 14 crashed out to unseeded opponents.

Second seed and 2023 world champion Michael Smith headlined the instant exits, and other top contenders, including Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall and Gary Anderson, followed suit.

The shock start to the tournament has only strengthened the odds for last year’s finalists, Humphries and Luke Littler, to lift the Sid Waddell trophy in January.

Humphries started his defence by thrashing France’s Thibaut Tricole 9-0 in legs on the opening night, laying down a statement that he was laser-focused on back-to-back titles.

He cruised to another straight-sets victory against Wales’ Nick Kenny – who dumped Raymond van Barneveld out – in Friday’s third-round match.

But the runaway world No. 1 insists that he hasn’t been enjoying watching lots of his rivals fall due to his desire to test himself against the best the sport has to offer.

“I’m not there watching the seeds lose and then going, ‘This is good for me’ because I don’t want to play in the world final and play against someone else,” Humphries explained.

“I want to play against Gary Anderson or Ross Smith or Michael van Gerwen or Gezzy [Gerwyn] Price. I don’t want to play against anybody else.

“No disrespect, but I just want to play against the best. So I wasn’t there, watching it and enjoying it. I know it makes it a lot, lot easier for Michael [van Gerwen].

“Michael’s rubbing his hands a lot. You know, he’s probably looking at it, thinking this is a good draw for him. But, yeah, I was gutted for them, to be honest.

“But I think that it’s also good for the sport. You know, if you’ve got new people winning, it’s been the year of the underdog, and it’s been great for them.

“But I think that to win this tournament, you know, it’s going to be very, very difficult. It’d be the biggest shock in world darts if an underdog won this.”

Humphries has booked a fourth-round clash against two-time world champion Peter Wright.

He added spice by aiming fire at the Scotsman over his claims he’d “smash” Cool Hand and Littler on the oche.

If he navigates his way past Wright, an all-English affair will await in the quarter-finals against fan favourite Stephen Bunting or Luke Woodhouse.