Humphries begins title defence with emphatic win

PA Media

Frank Keogh

BBC Sport Senior Journalist

15 December 2024, 22:58 GMT

Updated 31 minutes ago

Luke Humphries kicked off his world title defence with a dominant 3-0 win over Thibault Tricole on the opening night.

The world number one coasted along with an average of 90.79 as he took all nine legs in the second round of the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace in London.

Tricole, who was the first Frenchman to play in the tournament last year, had earlier defeated Australian qualifier Joe Comito 3-1 in the opening match.

The tournament began amid high anticipation after a surge in darts’ popularity following teenager Luke Littler’s run to the 2024 final in January, where he was beaten 7-4 by Humphries.

Englishman Humphries, 29, has enjoyed a brilliant year and he will return after the Christmas break where 2007 PDC world champion Raymond van Barneveld could await in the third round if the Dutch player progresses.

As well as his world championship win, Humphries lifted his maiden World Cup of Darts and World Matchplay titles, before retaining his Players Championship Finals crown in Minehead last month.

European Championship finalist Jermaine Wattimena set up a Monday afternoon match with 16th seed James Wade after a 3-0 defeat of Swiss debutant Stefan Bellmont where he averaged 98.54.

Irishman Keane Barry beat Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts and will now face 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price in the second round on Monday evening.

Barry, 22, lost the opening set and withstood 10 180s from his opponent to clinch victory.

There was a sad note before the matches as it was announced Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle’s wife Donna had died earlier in the week after a short illness.

Mardle, a five-time world championship semi-finalist, was absent from the television coverage.