BoyleSports World Grand Prix: Will England Reign Supreme Again?
by Devesh Jaganath | by Yunchu Li
Luke Humphries Going for Back-to-Back Titles
Reigning world champion Luke Humphries is on course to become the first back-to-back winner of the World Grand Prix since Michael van Gerwen in 2018 and 2019, after booking his spot in the quarter-final with a commanding performance against the always-dangerous Ricardo Pietreczko in round two.
After a sluggish start which saw him drop a set and two legs out the gate, the 29-year-old world number one overcame the German 3-1, with a 180 to set up a 130 checkout in the third set, and he never looked back from then on. The champ ended the match with an impressive 92.01 average, building on the 89.97 he managed against compatriot Stephen Bunting in his tournament opener.
Humphries, who only earned his first TV ranking title by beating Gerwyn Price 12 months ago, is now set to take on another Welshman in Jonny Clayton in the last eight, and Boylesports have the Englishman down as the clear favourite to defend his title at odds of 2.20, while you can lock in 1.66 on the champ to reach the final.
Hometown Rivalry: Can “Relentless” Joyce Shock “Voltage?"
The only all-English quarter-final in the competition will see world number four Rob Cross take on countryman Ryan Joyce for a spot in the final four where they will meet the winner of Humphries and Clayton.
“Voltage” has already made headlines in this year’s Boylesports World Grand Prix, having beaten teenage sensation and crowd-favourite Luke Littler in the opening round by two sets to one. What made the victory that much more impressive is that Cross got the job done while averaging 91.99, while Littler posted 94.03 on average per visit to the oche. The 34-year-old from Pembury then proceeded to take down Martin Schindler 3-1 in the second round, earning his first-ever quarter-final berth in this competition in the process.
However, standing in the way of Cross is Newcastle native Ryan Joyce, who pulled off arguably the biggest upset of the second round, beating world number five and heavily fancied Nathan Aspinall in a match that will likely go down in the history books as a World Grand Prix Epic. “Relentless” held his nerve in a nail-biting sudden death set against "The Asp", and will now feature in only his third televised ranking quarter-final.
Boylesports have inserted Rob Cross as the second-favourite behind Humphries to win the tournament at 6.20, while Ryan Joyce is the rank-outsider, currently showing up at 22.0 to go all the way.
Place a wager on Cross to beat Joyce
English-Belgian Showdown for Wade and Cullen
The final two Englishmen that have made it to the quarter-final of the World Grand Prix are two-time champion James Wade and Bradford-born Joe Cullen, both of whom are set to face Belgian opponents in Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh respectively.
Wade copped a massive scalp in the last round, beating 2020 champion and world number seven Gerwyn Price in straight sets, following a 2-1 win over the colourful Scotsman Peter Wright in the opening round. So far, "The Machine" has averaged a shade above 90.00 in both matches and will need to step it up a notch against De Decker who averaged 95.74 in round two - the highest of any player in the competition.
As for Joe Cullen, he entered the World Grand Prix as one of the outsiders on the card, but onlookers immediately sat up and took notice after he sent Chris Dobey packing in round one. "The RockStar" then knocked over Daryl Gurney, who bested Price in the first round, and is now one win away from his best-ever finish in this competition. However, keep an eye on Van den Bergh here, who is quietly fancied by Boylesports, currently showing up at 7.70 to win the competition, which is good for fourth-favourite as things stand.
Check out the latest World Grand Prix odds
Where to Watch the Boylesports World Grand Prix?
The quarters, semis and finals of the World Grand Prix will be played out this weekend between Friday and Sunday. Sky Sports are the official broadcasters for the tournament, covering all seven days of action, and below you can find out where to watch the live matches in your region:
UK: Sky Sports
Germany, Austria, Switzerland: DAZN, Viaplay
Africa: DSTV's Supersport
Rest of the World: PDCTV, live stream on Bet365
