The Grand Slam of Darts’ Super Sunday in Wolverhampton produced shocks aplenty, early casualties and finally perfection, as Luke Humphries found a nine-darter to complete a 5-3 Group A win against Michael Smith at WV Active.
It was a real tussle between the two former winners, with Humphries taking out 139 early on, and after taking a 4-3 lead, ‘Cool Hand’ finished 144 to send the crowd wild, sealing two points and a perfect leg.
In the other match in the group, Nathan Aspinall shrugged off the disappointment of losing out to Michael Smith in his Group A opener, and ‘The Asp’ picked up a 5-2 win against Alex Spellman to keep his qualification hopes alive.
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Here’s the Group A math: if Nathan Aspinall beats Cool Hand Luke, he’s through. If he doesn’t, he’ll need Spellman to upset Bully Boy. Otherwise, Smith will take second place - assuming the American doesn’t whitewash him. (Unlikely.)
Defending Champion Luke Littler was tested by Connor Scutt in Group E, and despite Scutt taking out 170 during the match, Littler averaged 105 to qualify for the last 16 in style.
Karel Sedlacek picked up his maiden Grand Slam win, coming from 2-0 behind against Daryl Gurney to record a 5-3 victory. Sedlacek missed ten match darts in total, but found tops with his 11th attempt at crossing the finish line to take the two points on offer. The Littler win later on in the evening ended Gurney’s interest in the competition.
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Match of the night was found in Group H, where Gary Anderson took a thrilling 5-4 win against Beau Greaves in a high-quality encounter.
Anderson averaged over 103, and Greaves averaged over 102, with the match ended by the Scot finding a 103 finish to take two points into his final group game.
That will be against Michael van Gerwen, with the clash a winner takes all affair after the Dutchman lost out 5-4 to Niko Springer, who sealed qualification in his debut Grand Slam.
Sadly, Beau Greaves is out, despite producing two superb ton-plus averages against former multiple World Champions. It feels cruel that losing back-to-back last-leg deciders to Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson ends her run - but that’s the Slam for you. Group G now delivers a mouth-watering finale: MVG vs Anderson, with the winner topping the group.
Remember, The Flying Scotsman has never failed to make it out of his group in any of his 17 Grand Slam appearances. This might be his toughest test yet.
Luke Woodhouse was the third Luke to secure his last 16 place, and confirmed an early exit for Stephen Bunting, as he won 5-2 against the tricky Alexis Toylo in Group C.
Martin Schindler handed Bunting a second straight defeat, with the German emerging a 5-4 winner against ‘The Bullet’ to consign the St Helens man to the trap door.
The first half of final group stage matches take place on Monday evening and for those eliminated already, the difference between finishing 3rd and 4th in the group is £3k so despite not being able to advance to the knockouts, it’s a good few quid to play for which can really matter at the end of year rankings.
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