Humphries Hunting Consecutive PDC Wins
Luke Humphries comes into the inaugural Poland Darts Masters on the back of his first victory on the PDC European Tour, successfully defending the European Darts Matchplay title after beating Dirk van Duijvenbode in a last leg decider on Sunday in Trier.
Cool Hand Luke prepares for his third appearance of the year on the World Series stage, having earned the right last year in winning 4 Euro Tours and shooting up to Number 1 on the European Tour Order of Merit.
The Newbury born player will hope for a better outing this year at the Betfred World Matchplay, with Luke ranked as the Number 6 Seed for the competition. The 28-year-old will be hungry to put things right this year in Blackpool, after falling short against Nathan Aspinall in the First Round at the Winter Gardens 12 months ago.
Humphries will face Hungarian international Nandor Major in the First Round of the Poland Darts Masters, with the winner to face either Michael van Gerwen or Adam Gawlas in the Quarter Finals.
Theirs certainly an argument that Gerwyn Price is the unluckiest player so far this year on the World Series stage, having lost consecutive Finals at the start of the year at the Bahrain Darts Masters against Michael Smith and the Nordic Darts Masters against fellow Red Dragon player Peter Wright.
The Iceman has had a strong resurgence so far in 2023, topping the Premier League Darts table for the first as well as picking up the European Darts Open and defending his International Darts Open title.
The Welshman has produced moments of quality all through the year after the drama of the World Darts Championship, registering 3 consecutive 100+ averages in his Night 11 win at the Brighton Centre in the Premier League Darts, including a score of 115.97 against Chris Dobey.
Price comes into the Poland Darts Masters as the Number 1 Seed, and will face TV debutant Lukasz Waclawski with either Nathan Aspinall or Boris Krcmar awaiting the winner in the Quarter Finals.
The Poland Darts Masters starts on Friday from 6pm live from the COS Torwar in Warsaw live on Viaplay Sports and DAZN, with Dimitri van den Bergh opening the inaugural tournament against Karel Sedlacek.
By Harry Masterson
2023 Poland Darts Masters Draw:
Last 16:
Gerwyn Price (1) v Lukasz Waclawski
Nathan Aspinall v Boris Krcmar
Rob Cross (4) v Krzysztof Ratajski
Dimitri van den Bergh v Karel Sedlacek
Michael Smith (2) v Krzysztof Kcuik
Danny Noppert v Radek Szaganski
Michael van Gerwen (3) v Adam Gawlas
Luke Humphries v Nandor Major