Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries will meet in the final of the 2024 Betfred World Matchplay on Sunday, after the world’s top two won their semi-final ties in Blackpool on Saturday.
Van Gerwen won an epic battle with Michael Smith 17-13 to book his place in a fifth World Matchplay final, while Humphries overcame James Wade 17-10 to reach the final for the first time on an electric night at the Winter Gardens.
Three-time champion Van Gerwen overcame some wayward finishing in the early stages with a powerful sprint to the finish to reach his second final in three years.
With the match finely poised at 12-12, Van Gerwen produced a magical 136 checkout to regain the lead and won four of the next five legs to close out victory.
“It was a really weird game,” Van Gerwen reflected. “My scoring was really good but my doubles let me down, I don’t know how I missed so many.
“I could easily have been further ahead but I kept my head in the game and that was key tonight.
“I will have to be better in the final but I’m there and that’s all that matters.
“I know what I’m capable of; mentally I make it too hard for myself sometimes.
“Luke is a great player and he has been doing really well lately so I need to put him in his place tomorrow.”
Van Gerwen flew out the traps, hitting a 161 checkout as he raced into a 4-1 lead, only for Smith to win the next four legs to take the lead.
Van Gerwen replied with a run of five straight legs to take command at 9-5.
Smith rallied and found his power scoring as he fought his way back to parity at 12-12.
With Smith looking likely to lead for the first time, Van Gerwen hit a 136 checkout to regain the lead.
Van Gerwen never looked back, winning four of the last five legs to book his place in the final.
The opening game of the night saw Humphries continue his remarkable 2024 with a first World Matchplay semi-final win, avenging his loss to Jonny Clayton at the same stage of last year’s event.
The world number one had to be at his best to overcome the challenge of Wade, who averaged 102.38 in a high-quality contest.
“It was a fantastic game, James would’ve probably won against anyone else tonight,” said Humphries.
“He was relentless, he never gave me a leg off and he was probably the better player for a lot of the match.
“I don’t know how I won 17-10, but I kept my performance to a high level throughout and I was deadly in the mid-part of the game.
“I’m really looking forward to the final, I’ve got my family coming down so it will be another proud occasion for me.”
Humphries took the opening two legs, but Wade soon found the form that saw him reach his first World Matchplay semi-final in nine years as he took a 5-4 lead.
With the match level at 8-8, Humphries produced a run of four successive legs to take control.
It proved to be a match-winning burst as the World Champion never relinquished his grip on the tie, hitting a 156 checkout to go 14-9 up and extinguish hopes of a Wade fightback.
Wade continued to plug away, hitting a ten-darter to stay alive, but Humphries won three of the last four legs to break new ground at the Winter Gardens.
The Betfred World Matchplay is broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
2024 Betfred World Matchplay
Saturday July 20
Semi-Finals
Luke Humphries 17-10 James Wade
Michael van Gerwen 17-13 Michael Smith
Sunday July 21 (2000 BST)
Final
Luke Humphries v Michael van Gerwen
Best of 35 legs
NB: Sky Sports on air from 1930 BST
–ENDS–
Image: Mark Robinson/ PDC
