Luke Humphries turned on the style to beat Nathan Aspinall 2-0 and reach the second round of the World Grand Prix in Leicester.
Premier League champion Humphries edged a close first set 3-2, despite Aspinall recovering from a slow start to win the second leg with a ‘big fish’ finish of two treble 20s followed by a bullseye.
Aspinall struggled to start with doubles – a requirement of the double-in double-out format – as fellow Englishman Humphries took advantage and launched into the second set with a brutal 156 finish.
Humphries recovered from a wobble to see out the second set 3-0 and set up a second-round meeting with Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski, who beat Germany’s Martin Schindler 2-0.
“It was a big game. Nathan is a fantastic player,” Humphries told Sky Sports.
“He struggled to get in a few times and he let me in with that 156, which was a big shot there to take the game towards myself.
“My scoring was a bit strange, they just didn’t want to drop in.
“Hopefully on Wednesday I can come back and be better.”
England’s Stephen Bunting – who recently won the Swiss Darts Trophy for his sixth title of the season – beat Germany’s Niko Springer 2-0, and fifth seed James Wade fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat to Joe Cullen in an all-English contest.
The first round continues on Tuesday as Peter Wright takes on 2024 Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker, Luke Littler faces Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen plays Dirk van Duijvenbode.
Monday’s results:
Luke Humphries 2-0 Nathan Aspinall
Gary Anderson 2-1 Raymond van Barneveld
Rob Cross 2-1 Wessel Nijman
Krzysztof Ratajski 2-0 Martin Schindler
Cameron Menzies 2-0 Chris Dobey
Joe Cullen 2-0 James Wade
Danny Noppert 2-1 Jermaine Wattimena
Stephen Bunting 2-0 Niko Springer
Tuesday’s matches:
Damon Heta v Luke Woodhouse
Ross Smith v Daryl Gurney
Jonny Clayton v Andrew Gilding
Gerwyn Price v Ryan Searle
Luke Littler v Gian van Veen
Michael van Gerwen v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Peter Wright v Mike de Decker
Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce
