World Champion Luke Humphries progressed through to the 2024 World Matchplay semi-finals with a 16-10 win over Dimitri Van den Bergh at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Thursday night.
Current World No 1 and World Champion Luke Humphries continued his quietly dominant run at the World Matchplay last night with a 16-10 win against Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Fresh from winning the World Cup of Darts with England partner Michael Smith in late June, Humphries has picked up the same form in the World Matchplay so far.
His initial wins over Ricardo Pietreczko and Stephen Bunting were both 100+ averages and once again he maintained this high average last night with 101.21 alongside a 45.71% checkout rate (16/35).
His performances are elite and to be expected from the current best in the world (on accolades) but due to his unassuming demeanour, he sometimes goes unnoticed by fans and the media.
Last night however, Humphries seemed to break character against Dimitri Van den Bergh and mocked him mid-game…
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Luke Humphries MOCKS Dimitri Van den Bergh
Luke Humphries was leading 11-10 going into the 22nd leg as Dimitri Van den Bergh was trying to keep up with the World No 1.
“The Dreammaker” hit back to back 180’s to pile the pressure on Humphries but it wasn’t the scoring that was an issue.
After hitting his second 180, Dimitri gave a confident shoulder roll as he collected his darts.
Luke Humphries then took out a 106 checkout and to everyone’s surprise, hit Dimitri back with an extended shoulder roll/chicken dance of his own.
SUBLIME FROM HUMPHRIES!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) July 18, 2024
Dimitri Van den Bergh hits back-to-back 180s as he bids to level at 11-11, but Humphries has other ideas! 😂
📺 https://t.co/ETSHShs52H#WMDarts | QF pic.twitter.com/r48b3cimcM
Dimitri Van den Bergh took it as a joke and laughed it off while Humphries did the same.
Commentators and fans alike though could tell that Humphries was actually more serious with his actions. He was clearly annoyed by Dimitri showboating mid-game.
Speaking on the ‘mockery’ in the post-game interview, Luke Humphries had this to say:
“It was just one of those things.
“When Dimitri hit the second 180 and did the shoulder roll I thought that’s such an unnatural reaction.
“He was giving it a bit of swagger and I thought, alright, if this goes I’m giving it back to him.
“I’m not shy to celebrate but I don’t like to give too much away. As soon as he did that though I thought you’re going to get it back.
“I was pretty revved up after that and maybe that could have been the mistake he made…”
It would seem that Dimitri Van den Bergh’s ‘antics’ are getting to some players as it wasn’t just the post-game interview with Humphries that he was mentioned.
James Wade beat Ross Smith in the other night’s matchup and will face Luke Humphries in the semi-finals.
The other match had yet to be played when Wade was interviewed so he had this to say on the possibility of facing Dimitri Van den Bergh who “can take his time”:
“I’m supposed to be a good boy with this interview but I disagree with what Dimitri does.
“Luke Humphries though is a world class player, he’s a world champion and he just plays darts.
“All this stopping and standing back… I don’t think there’s a need for it.
“He’s a lovely kid as well so it amazes me when he goes up there and does all that stuff. It’s a bit beyond me but also I’m a bit old fashioned and boring.”
James Wade and Luke Humphries will meet in the semi-finals of the 2024 World Matchplay tomorrow evening at 8pm.
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