Darts
Luke Littler wins on return as Luke Humphries ends Beau Greaves’ Czech challenge
Luke Littler made a winning return to action while Luke Humphries ended the challenge of Beau Greaves at the Czech Darts Open.
Littler was making his first major appearance since retaining the World Matchplay title and he averaged 108.59 in a 6-4 win over German Niko Springer.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been to a European Tour,” said Littler on pdc.tv. “Full credit to Niko. I was 5-2 up and then suddenly it was 5-4 and he was right back in it.
“I’ve just produced a 108 average but, when I was practising backstage, I couldn’t hit anything.”
Greaves created history on Friday by becoming the first woman to win on the European Tour when she defeated Daryl Gurney.
Three-time Prague champion Humphries proved too strong, though, claiming a 6-2 victory.
Greaves opened the contest with a 13-dart leg and then pulled back to 3-2 after Humphries had won three legs in a row, but the former world champion swiftly closed the door.
“She’s an amazing player, she pushed me all the way, it was a couple of bits towards the end of the match that got me through in the end,” said Humphries.
“If I had lost today, I wouldn’t have been disgraced, I would have lost to a really great dart player.”
Humphries will face Andrew Gilding, who defeated Nathan Aspinall 6-2, in the last 16 while Littler will take on Krzysztof Ratajski.
There were also wins for Gian van Veen, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen and Josh Rock but Stephen Bunting was beaten 6-4 by Luke Woodhouse.
The final stages of the event will be played in the Czech capital on Sunday.
