Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price will meet in Sunday evening's World Grand Prix final after coming through their semi-finals in Leicester on Saturday night. Price defeated Nathan Aspinall, while Humphries ended James Wade's run in the double-in, double-out tournament.
Price built a sizeable advantage in the first semi-final, taking the opening set 3-0 as Aspinall made a disastrous start and averaged just 58 after the first set — half of Price's average. 'The Iceman' took the second set too, striking with a 78 finish in the fifth leg before holding his own leg to move 3-0 ahead. Aspinall responded strongly in the fourth set, including a 132 finish, and then claimed the fifth set to reduce the deficit to 3-2, but he failed to make the most of throwing first in the sixth, immediately surrendering his own leg. Two 40 check-outs gave Price a 2-0 lead before Aspinall stayed in the set with a 48 finish, only for Price to wrap it up with a 66 finish. The seventh set began with a break in Aspinall's favour, but Price broke back with an excellent 74 finish, moved to within one leg of victory with a 20 check-out and sealed the match immediately with a 52 check-out. It will be Price's fourth World Grand Prix final; he won the title in 2020 by defeating Dirk van Duijvenbode and lost the finals in 2021 and 2023.
In the second semi-final, Humphries proved too strong for Wade, who had previously eliminated, among others, Gian van Veen. The match had an unusual pattern early on, with the first four sets each being won by the player who had not started them — Humphries took the first and third, while Wade levelled by winning the second and fourth. That trend continued in the fifth set: after Wade won the opening leg, Humphries levelled with a 32 finish and a 68 check-out, and Wade then struggled badly to open the leg, allowing Humphries to take the set 3-1. Humphries then became the first player to successfully hold his own set, although it was far from straightforward — Wade moved 2-1 ahead but produced two disastrous legs, and in the fifth leg missed a set dart at the bull. Humphries breathed a sigh of relief and took the set via double 8 to move 4-2 ahead. Wade extended the match by taking the seventh set 3-1, but was eventually forced to bow out in the eighth, as 'Cool Hand Luke' opened with a 78 finish, doubled his advantage to 2-0 with a 40 check-out and completed the 5-3 victory with a 58 finish.
Humphries will also be appearing in his fourth World Grand Prix final, having reached all four consecutively, and won his only World Grand Prix title in 2023. In the final of that 2023 edition, Price had to acknowledge Humphries' superiority, and the Englishman will once again be his opponent on Sunday evening.
