Jonny Clayton finally has his Grand Slam of Darts place — and he could not hide his relief. The Welshman defeated Luke Humphries 8-4 in the Swiss Darts Trophy final in Basel, claiming his first ranking title of 2026 and the qualification opportunity he had openly regretted missing.
"I'm over the moon with this," Clayton said in his on-stage interview after the final. "It was a great game to be involved in. If you want to lift these trophies, you have to beat people like Luke." The victory followed a painful near-miss earlier in the campaign, when Clayton beat Luke Littler in the World Series of Darts Finals quarter-finals before losing to Gerwyn Price in the last four. Reflecting on that in his World Grand Prix press conference with DartsNews, he admitted: "I had a chance to get to that final and get my Grand Slam spot. Little things that hurt, you know?"
In Basel, he finished the job. Having beaten Karel Sedlacek and Gian van Veen earlier in the evening, Clayton won four consecutive legs from 4-4 against Humphries to lift his first ranking trophy since May 2025. Humphries had arrived in the final after averaging 111.17 against Mensur Suljovic, and the recent World Grand Prix champion threatened to break Clayton's throw repeatedly during the early exchanges. Clayton held firm, including an 11-darter after Humphries had opened the fifth leg with six perfect darts. The first break eventually went the Welshman's way for 6-4, and he closed out victory with a 12-darter and a 46 finish.
Clayton was full of praise for his beaten opponent. "It's always good to win a trophy. To do it against a man like this, I can't speak any more words," he said. "He's absolutely fantastic, a good friend, and what a player. He's played amazing this weekend and I think I've done alright this weekend. Thank God I'm in the Grand Slam!"
The statistics told a story of fine margins: Clayton averaged 101.68 to Humphries' 101.75, but converted approximately 62% of his doubles against the Englishman's 22%. Alongside his Grand Slam place, Clayton's fourth European Tour title moved him level with Phil Taylor and Nathan Aspinall. The £35,000 winner's cheque also took him back above James Wade to world number five.
