Luke Humphries' bid for back-to-back titles ended in an 8-4 defeat to Jonny Clayton in the Swiss Darts Trophy final in Basel, but the World Grand Prix champion remained in positive spirits, declaring: "With that World Grand Prix trophy, I came up on this stage this weekend and thought everything's a bonus - when I'm relaxed, I'm dangerous." The loss denied Humphries a tenth European Tour crown.
Humphries' run to the final was marked by exceptional scoring. He whitewashed Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 with a tournament-record 114.15 average, then averaged 100.40 against Cristo Reyes before producing 111.17 and missing just one dart at double in his 7-4 semi-final victory over Mensur Suljovic. His opening match was a much closer affair against Kevin Doets, who averaged 105.64 and forced a deciding leg, but Humphries survived before winning all three of his Sunday matches to reach the final.
Clayton had beaten Karel Sedlacek and Gian van Veen earlier in the evening, averaging 105 against the latter. Humphries was generous in his assessment of the eventual champion: "I think Jonny was unbelievable there. I think the two top players in this tournament made the final. I'm proud of Jonny, he's a fantastic bloke and fantastic friend - I'm happy for him to win."
In the final, Humphries had opportunities to take control, including four missed darts to break in the third leg. Two legs later, he opened with six perfect darts but never returned to the board as Clayton completed an 11-dart hold. The pair remained level at 4-4 before Clayton won the last four legs. Humphries missed double 16 to break in the ninth, then the bull for a 164 checkout in the tenth, allowing the Welshman to establish the first two-leg cushion of the match.
Humphries averaged 101.75 against Clayton's 101.68, but his finishing fell sharply from the semi-final: he converted approximately 22% of his doubles to Clayton's 62%. He nevertheless completed the weekend with a three-figure average in every match, his pursuit of a tenth European Tour title continuing after five successive ton-plus performances in Basel.
