Luke Humphries, Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price and Ricky Evans secured their places in the last eight of the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts in an eventful evening on Wednesday, with world number one Humphries stealing the headlines.
Humphries averaged a mammoth 108.55 – the third-highest average ever in the Round Two of the Grand Slam – in his spellbinding 10-3 victory over Jurjen van der Velde, despite playing through a suspected pain in his neck and back.
The 2023 champion strolled to a 5-0 lead, averaging north of 119 after five legs, which included a ten-dart leg where Humphries took out the traditional nine-dart checkout of 141 to leave and then take out tops.
Despite a spirited performance from Van der Velde, who took out a 164 checkout in defeat, the world number one closed the game out 10-3 with a 77% checkout success rate.
“It was probably one of the best performances I've ever had in my life,” admitted Humphries, who will face Smith in the last eight.
“I woke up this morning and couldn’t get my head off the pillow, I’ve had a bad neck for a few days.
“It’s been a struggle for me all day. It’s crazy how you can perform like that with an injury I’ve had to deal with.
“I cannot believe I’ve done that. I'm in a lot of pain now, it's hurting me, but I'm a fighter. I put everything on the line tonight.”
Smith edged through an epic encounter with Chris Dobey, where twenty match darts were missed before Smith stole a 10-9 win.
After Dobey took an early 5-2 lead, Smith levelled at 5-5 with a magic 164 checkout and then took the advantage at 7-6.
The St Helens star then missed two match darts before Dobey forced a deciding-leg, where 18 more match darts were missed – including a whopping 11 from Dobey – before Smith took out double four to stumble into the quarter-final.
“He kept missing and I was thankful for that,” acknowledged Smith, “I should never have been in that match or been in front, I should never have won, but I will take it.
“Every game I play now, they always go to last legs, and I hate it, it’s doing my head in.
“Something was on my side tonight, I’ll take it. I came to this tournament to win it and I know I've still got a shot.
“I’ve always believed I’ll win tournaments. I might not be physically fit, but mentally I'm still the same person.”
Three-time champion Price also secured his spot in the last eight with a 10-6 win over Martin Schindler which included an excellent start and finish to the game.
Price sped into a 5-1 lead but took his foot off the gas as Schindler reduced the deficit to 6-5. The Welshman took out a huge 170 finish to begin his stellar finish to the game, closing the match with an 11-darter.
“I think that was a difficult game,” said Price, who earnt a tie with Evans in the last eight with his triumph.
“Towards the end, I started to play a little bit better and so did he, but I was just happy to get over the winning line.
“This is my favourite tournament, and I always seem to do well here. With the crowd behind me now, I think I’ll do even better.
“I know Ricky [Evans] has been playing fantastic this year. Over the longer format as first to 16, I think it goes in my favour a little bit as I've been in this situation before.”
Evans broke new ground to reach the first Grand Slam quarter-final of his career, by defeating Luke Woodhouse 10-9 in a last-leg decider.
Woodhouse produced a mid-game burst to lead 8-5, but after missing two darts to go 9-5 up, Evans rattled off five of the next six legs to complete the comeback.
“I don’t think that’s it’s hit me that I've won yet,” said Evans. “I always seem to win the scrappy ones.
“I just threw fast and they seemed to go in, and the crowd got behind me again.
“I think [Woodhouse] is one of the most underrated players in world darts, he is a proper darts player. It was good fun.”
Round Two will conclude on Thursday evening, as defending champion Luke Littler takes on rising star Wessel Nijman for a place in the last eight.
Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen will face fellow Dutchman Danny Noppert for a shot at the quarter-finals, whilst debutants Lukas Wenig and Niko Springer will lock horns in an all-German affair.
Josh Rock, who dumped out European Champion Gian van Veen, will clash with Connor Scutt for a chance to face Littler or Nijman in the quarter-finals.
The 2025 Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
Click here for match stats & results.
2025 Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts
Wednesday November 12
4x Second Round
Ricky Evans 10-9 Luke Woodhouse
Gerwyn Price 10-6 Martin Schindler
Luke Humphries 10-3 Jurjen van der Velde
Michael Smith 10-9 Chris Dobey
Thursday November 13 (1900 GMT)
4x Second Round
Lukas Wenig v Niko Springer
Josh Rock v Connor Scutt
Luke Littler v Wessel Nijman
Michael van Gerwen v Danny Noppert
Friday November 14 (1900 GMT)
2x Quarter-Finals
Ricky Evans v Gerwyn Price
Luke Humphries v Michael Smith