Luke Humphries on the back of his best year in the PDC will make his Cazoo 2023 World Championship bow, as he faces German Florian Hempel who knows how to cause an opening round upset, having knocked last year’s 5th seed Dimitri van den Bergh out before the Christmas break.
Cool Hand is the highest-ranked player in action on Day 8 after topping the European Order of Merit, picking up the European Darts Matchplay and the Czech Darts Open in two of four titles won in 2022.
The World Number 5 beat former World Champion Rob Cross twice in two Finals over the course of a week, before losing to Voltage in the Final of Players Championship 24 at the Barnsley Metrodome.
The Englishman has picked up one title on the Players Championship circuit this year, beating Ryan Searle 8-4 way back in February to claim the maiden Players Championship event of 2022.
Humphries achieved his best finish in last month’s Grand Slam of Darts, beating the best player of 2022 Michael van Gerwen 16-10 in the Quarter Finals, to reach the Semi at Aldersley Leisure Village. The 27-year-old narrowly lost out to Nathan Aspinall in the Last 4 but in relation to winning a televised major title, it’s only a matter of time for a player who seems to get better year after year.
The Red Dragon star has reached the Quarter Finals at the Alexandra Palace on three separate occasions, losing 5-2 twelve months ago to Gary Anderson, having beat Chris Dobey in a last set decider in the previous round.
Cool Hand will know his first match on the world stage won’t be straightforward, after his opponent Florian Hempel edged out Players Championship 23 winner Keegan Brown 3-2 on Saturday night.
The German knows a thing or two about knocking World Championship number 5 seeds out on the world stage and will have to be at his very best if he’s to reach the Third Round once more.
Thursday’s evening session also sees the introduction of former back-to-back World Champion Gary Anderson who faces Latvian Madars Razma, whilst Vincent van der Voort having withdrawn last year due to Covid, returns to North London as he faces Cameron Menzies in the last match of the night.
The Cazoo World Darts Championship is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
Cazoo 2023 World Championship Day 8
Evening Session Order of Play:
Gary Anderson (11) v Madars Razma
James Wade (8) v Jim Williams
Luke Humphries (5) v Florian Hempel
Vincent van der Voort (28) v Cameron Menzies
—–ENDS—–
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