Mike De Decker (Picture: Simon O'Connor/PDC)
Mike De Decker (Picture: Simon O'Connor/PDC)

Darts results: Mike De Decker stuns defending champion Luke Humphries to win his maiden major title at the World Grand Prix


Mike De Decker caused one of the biggest shocks in darts history by shocking defending champion Luke Humphries 6-4 in the World Grand Prix final.

The 28-year-old Belgian was a 200/1 shot with some bookies before the tournament began in Leicester this week but after surviving a match dart against Damon Heta in the opening round, he then upset the odds to thrash multiple major champions Gary Anderson (3-0), James Wade (3-0) and Dimitri Van den Bergh (5-2) before producing an incredible performance to overcome the world number one.

De Decker hadn't previously gone as far as a televised quarter-final while Humphries was bidding to win a sixth major title in a awesome spell of dominance since lifting his first at the World Grand Prix 12 months ago.

It was the biggest shock since Andrew Gilding also made a mockery of 200/1 prices at the 2023 UK Open where he shocked Michael van Gerwen but some will argue De Decker's triumph is even more remarkable given the lengthy set play format and the calibre of player he's had to defeat throughout the week.

The pair traded the opening two sets, which went to deciding legs, before De Decker surged into a commanding 4-1 lead which could easily have become 5-1 had Humphries not produced 149 and 152 checkouts from 2-0 down to get himself back into the contest.

Humphries built on this momentum to take the next two sets and level up the match only for De Decker to stop the rot in the ninth before completing the job in the 10th.

De Decker's success makes him only the second Belgian - alongside Van den Bergh - to taste victory in a televised PDC event, and his £120,000 windfall catapults him from 36th to 25th on the PDC Order of Merit.

"I'm so proud," said De Decker. "It feels amazing - I'm over the moon; I've been really happy with my performance all week, but this tops it off.

"Luke has been a phenomenal champion for the last year and he's such a nice person.

"The way Luke has been playing since last year is just brilliant and being the person that beats him this weekend, in a final, picking up this trophy; I'm so happy!

"I was cool in patches. In the beginning I was really nervous, then I calmed down and went 4-1 up. When he came back to 4-4 I started to get nervous again but I did it."

Humphries had stormed into the final with a sensational straight sets defeat of Ryan Joyce on Saturday - in which he averaged 100 - but De Decker's superior doubling proved crucial in seeing his bid to retain the title fall just short.

"I'm obviously gutted to lose - I felt like I really was just on the wires of everything," said Humphries.

"It frustrating but I'm so proud of Mike, he showed so much bottle. I know how it felt like to be in that position a year ago and he looked as cool as anything.

"It wasn't my night and sometimes you have to accept that it isn't - but you've got a great champion and he's got a target on his back now like I've got.

"He's a fantastic guy, a great player. There's a lot more big things to come from him after this."

Luke Humphries 4-6 Mike de Decker: Match stats

  • Set Scores: 3-2, 2-3, 0-3, 1-3, 2-3, 3-2, 3-1, 3-2, 1-3, 2-3
  • Average
    Humphries: 90.56
    De Decker: 92.06
  • 180s
    Humphries: 14
    De Decker: 16
  • Checkout %
    Humphries: 37.7%
    De Decker: 42.4%
  • 100+ checkouts & high checkout
    Humphries: 3 & 152
    De Decker: 2 & 156

Routes to the World Grand Prix final

LUKE HUMPHRIES

MIKE DE DECKER

2024 World Grand Prix statistics

  • Tournament Average
    Humphries: 91.13
    De Decker: 91.38
  • Tournament 180s
    Humphries: 32
    De Decker: 34
  • Checkout %
    Humphries: 41.41%
    De Decker: 45.56%
  • Double-in %
    Humphries: 43.75%
    De Decker: 48.55%
  • 100+ checkouts & high checkout
    Humphries: 11 & 152
    De Decker: 9 & 160

World Grand Prix: Round-by-round results

FINAL

  • (1) Luke Humphries 4-6 Mike De Decker

SEMI-FINALS

  • (1) Luke Humphries 5-0 Ryan Joyce
  • Mike De Decker 5-2 Dimitri Van den Bergh

QUARTER-FINALS

  • (1) Luke Humphries 3-1 Jonny Clayton(8)
  • (4) Rob Cross 2-3 Ryan Joyce
  • Mike De Decker 3-0 James Wade
  • Joe Cullen 1-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh

SECOND ROUND

  • (1) Luke Humphries 3-1 Ricardo Pietreczko
  • (8) Jonny Clayton 3-1 Ross Smith
  • (4) Rob Cross 3-1 Martin Schindler
  • (5) Nathan Aspinall 1-3 Ryan Joyce
  • Gary Anderson 0-3 Mike De Decker
  • (7) Gerwyn Price 0-3 James Wade
  • Daryl Gurney 2-3 Joe Cullen
  • (6) Dave Chisnall 1-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh

FIRST ROUND

  • (1) Luke Humphries 2-1 Stephen Bunting
  • Raymond van Barneveld 1-2 Ricardo Pietreczko
  • (8) Jonny Clayton 2-0 Ritchie Edhouse
  • Gian van Veen 0-2 Ross Smith
  • (4) Rob Cross 2-1 Luke Littler
  • Brendan Dolan 0-2 Martin Schindler
  • (5) Nathan Aspinall 2-1 Ryan Searle
  • Josh Rock 0-2 Ryan Joyce
  • (2) Michael Smith 1-2 Gary Anderson
  • Mike De Decker 2-1 Damon Heta
  • (7) Gerwyn Price 2-1 Danny Noppert
  • Peter Wright 1-2 James Wade
  • (3) Michael van Gerwen 0-2 Daryl Gurney
  • Chris Dobey 1-2 Joe Cullen
  • (6) Dave Chisnall 2-0 Cameron Menzies
  • Luke Woodhouse 1-2 Dimitri Van den Bergh

World Grand Prix Past Finals

World Grand Prix Most Titles

  • Phil Taylor - 11
  • Michael van Gerwen - 6
  • James Wade - 2
  • Luke Humphries
  • Jonny Clayton - 1
  • Gerwyn Price - 1
  • Daryl Gurney - 1
  • Colin Lloyd - 1
  • Alan Warriner - 1
  • Robert Thornton - 1

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