Luke Humphries scooped a third £25,000 European Tour triumph of 2022 in style with a deciding leg shoot-out win against Rob Cross at the European Darts Grand Prix in Stuttgart on Sunday; "I'm making huge strides in the game and there's a lot more to come"
Sunday 22 May 2022 23:39, UK
Luke Humphries claimed his third European Tour title of 2022 with a stunning 8-7 win over Rob Cross in Sunday's Interwetten European Darts Grand Prix final.
Humphries was victorious against Cross a week ago in Prague to claim the Czech Darts Open title, and matched that result to scoop a third £25,000 European Tour triumph of 2022 in style.
Cross took the final all the way to a deciding leg but was agonisingly left just short of victory for a seventh time on the European Tour - and in his third decider of the year - as Humphries took out 108 for the title.
"It's fantastic," said Humphries. "Rob's one of the nicest guys in the PDC and it's no coincidence [that] we have practiced together for the last two European Tours and made the final together.
"It was a great game, full of everything. At the start of that game we must have been averaging 113-114, it felt amazing. I know I dropped off a little bit but then I missed because Rob put me under pressure.
"I thought I played fantastic there but Rob was the better player overall because he was consistent throughout the whole game.
"I missed a couple of match darts but that 108 was clinical and one of the best out-shots of my career.
"I'm making huge strides in the game and there's a lot more to come."
Humphries built his form as the day progressed, seeing off Joe Murnan 6-3 in the third round, whitewashing Brendan Dolan in the quarter-finals with a 100 average and then posting a 108 average in a brilliant 7-4 semi-final defeat of Peter Wright.
Cross, the reigning European Champion was left to rue another loss in a European Tour final - his seventh in a run spanning five years since turning professional in 2017.
"I'm glad I don't struggle with 'majors' to win them - these are 10 times harder!" admitted Cross.
"Credit to Luke, I thought he played great, he was the better player and if he hit doubles earlier I was out of there earlier.
"He's superb and I've got a lot of time for him."
The PDC European Tour continues next weekend with the Jack's Dutch Darts Championship at the Ijsselhallen in Zwolle from May 27-29.
Interwetten European Darts Grand Prix
Sunday May 22
Afternoon Session
Third Round
Martin Schindler 6-5 Martin Lukeman
Damon Heta 6-5 Ryan Searle
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-3 Daryl Gurney
Rob Cross 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Brendan Dolan 6-3 Andrew Gilding
Luke Humphries 6-3 Joe Murnan
Peter Wright 6-1 Jonny Clayton
Danny Noppert 6-4 Nathan Rafferty
Evening Session
Quarter-Finals
Damon Heta 6-5 Martin Schindler
Rob Cross 6-4 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Luke Humphries 6-0 Brendan Dolan
Peter Wright 6-1 Danny Noppert
Semi-Finals
Rob Cross 7-4 Damon Heta
Luke Humphries 7-4 Peter Wright
Final
Luke Humphries 8-7 Rob Cross