Luke Humphries through at World Grand Prix, but shocks aplenty as major winners bow out

Luke Humphries is through to the second round of the World Grand Prix, but the likes of James Wade, Chris Dobey and Raymond van Barneveld have all bowed out.

World number one Humphries lost to Mike De Decker in last year's final but arrives at this part of the year with a large batch of ranking money to defend.

Humphries recorded a 2-0 win over Nathan Aspinall to strengthen his hold of the number one spot, setting up a last-16 showdown with Krzysztof Ratajski after the Polish player impressed in a 2-0 victory over Martin Schindler in the 'double in, double out' event.

The surprise of the night was former winner James Wade suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Joe Cullen, who secured an important win in his efforts to remain in the world's top 32 with a semi-final place from two years ago to defend this week.

Next up for Cullen is Gary Anderson who defied a strong display from five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld to win 2-1, coming through in a last-leg decider.

Bunting wins opening World Grand Prix match

In the last game of the evening, fourth seed Stephen Bunting produced the performance of the night in a 2-0 triumph over debutant Niko Springer, averaging 97.02.

STRAIGHT SETS VICTORY FOR BUNTING!

Stephen Bunting is the final player tonight through to Round Two, as The Bullet averages 97 on his way to a 2-0 victory over German youngster Niko Springer!

? https://t.co/cN6xY3oHDW#WGPDarts | R1 pic.twitter.com/Fl6o8JsGbZ

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 6, 2025

Bunting will go up against Danny Noppert in the second round after the Dutchman hit a 158 checkout in a last-leg decider to overcome Jermaine Wattimena, his opponent having been left on 170.

Ninth seed Rob Cross defeated promising Dutchman Wessel Nijman by a 2-1 scoreline in a match that also went to a deciding leg.

He will now face Cameron Menzies who made light work of an out-of-sorts Chris Dobey to win by a 2-0 scoreline.