Humphries out of Grand Slam of Darts in group stage
Current world champion Luke Humphries failed to defend his Grand Slam of Darts title
- Published
Defending champion and world number one Luke Humphries suffered a shock group-stage exit from the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.
Humphries lost his second match 5-3 to fellow Englishman James Wade, after his day one defeat by Austrian Rowby-John Rodriguez.
World champion Humphries checked out a 130 to take a 3-2 lead, but Wade held his nerve to win the next three legs.
Humphries posted on social media that he was "gutted" to be eliminated at such an early stage but that he had been distracted by his son being unwell.
"It just wasn't me up on that stage this week but I've had other things on my mind," said Humphries.
"That makes it so much harder to perform at this level. Looking forward to getting back to my son."
Rodriguez and Wade will face each other in the final match of Group A to decide who will join Mickey Mansell in the next round.
Teenager Luke Littler continued his fine form, progressing to the second round with a 5-1 victory over Belgium's Dimitri van den Bergh.
Littler averaged 108 in another dominant performance after his 5-0 thrashing of Ireland's Keane Barry on Saturday.
"I鈥檇 love to top the group. Tonight was another top performance," Littler told Sky Sports.
"It doesn鈥檛 feel as simple as it may look. I know I鈥檓 playing well, but up here with the lights on, it鈥檚 not easy."
Gary Anderson secured his progression with a thrilling 5-4 win over three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen.
Anderson checked out a 136 for a 4-3 lead before Van Gerwen fought back to force a deciding leg, which the Scot won comfortably to finish with an average of 105.19.
Van Gerwen will need to beat Ryan Joyce in the next group match to qualify.
Former world champion Michael Smith was beaten 5-1 by Jermaine Wattimena, who ensured his qualification with two wins from two.
Smith beat Mensur Suljovic on day one, meaning he can still qualify with a win over Mike de Decker on Monday.
Peter Wright is also winless after he was beaten by Leonard Gates in the afternoon session, while Rob Cross lost 5-3 to Martin Lukeman.
Dave Chisnall and Stephen Bunting lost to Ross Smith and Gian van Veen respectively and the Netherlands' Noa-Lynn van Leuven was eliminated by Ryan Joyce.
Barry responded to his defeat by Littler one day one by beating Lourence Ilagan 5-3 to keep himself in contention of qualifying.
The group stages continue on Monday while the last 16 begins on Wednesday, followed by the semi-finals and final on Sunday, 17 November.