Favourite and reigning champion Luke Humphries knocked out by James Wade in a crunch clash; Luke Littler secured his spot in the last 16; Michael van Gerwen lost to Gary Anderson;
Reigning Grand Slam champion Luke Humphries was knocked out of the 2024 edition of the tournament after a 5-3 defeat to James Wade cemented his inability to get out of Group A.
In the crunch clash with Wade, both players needed victory to keep their tournament hopes alive after the world champion lost to Rowby-John Rodriguez and Wade to Mickey Mansell on the opening night.
At first, Wade was in the zone but Humphries found a sensational 130 checkout in the fifth leg for a crucial break and looked to be on top.
However, Wade battled hard and a brilliant break, followed by a pressure 76 checkout, gave him a 4-3 lead – his class on D10 helping him seal a momentous victory.
It means that world no 1 Humphries will not defend his title and has not gone back-to-back in either the World Grand Prix or Grand Slam.
In a statement on social media after his loss, Humphries said: “What can I say.. gutted to be out of the Grand Slam.. just wasn’t me up on that stage this week, but I’ve had other things on my mind and it makes it so much harder to perform at this level, looking forward to getting back to my son who’s not been well the past few days!
“Thank you to everyone for the support and the lovely messages this week. Love you all, and I’m looking forward to spending some time at home with my family, I’ll be back and good luck to the remaining players in the competition!”
Luke Littler secured his spot in the last 16 of the Grand Slam with a dominant 5-1 victory over Dimitri Van den Bergh in Group F.
Coming into the batch after his six-minute scalp of Keane Barry on Saturday, Littler made quick work of going 3-0 up, taking an early break, and then a 105 checkout on the way.
From there he was 4-0 up in no time with a 106 average and, despite Van den Bergh holding his throw for a leg, he came away with another breeze of a win on D5.
In a clash of former World Champions, the crowd went wild as Michael van Gerwen took on Gary Anderson in Group G, the latter clinching a massive win in a last-leg decider.