Premier League Darts: Luke Humphries wins his first championship

Luke Humphries made three great plays to secure victory on the sixth night of Premier League Darts in Brighton.

The 29-year-old world champion defeated Gerwyn Price 6-2, Rob Cross 6-3 and Michael Smith 6-3 to claim his first win of the night and move up to second in the rankings.

Humphries' victory reduced his lead over leader Michael van Gerwen to three points.

Van Gerwen was eliminated in the quarter-finals for the second week in a row, losing 6-2 to Cross.

Two-time world champion Peter Wright missed two match darts in his quarter-final loss to Smith, and the Scot is without a win in this year's competition.

Smith, who won on the first night in Cardiff, defeated 17-year-old Luke Littler in the semi-final, but lost to the man who replaced him as world number one in January.

Humphries, who lost Sunday's British Open final to Dimitri van den Bergh, told Sky Sports after his win: I'm back and much better.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get used to all the scenarios that you're going through.

“British Open” [reaching the final] It was a big boost for me. I know we didn't win, but my game was in a good position and I played well.

“We came here today and took it to the next level. We even have some runners-up.” [trophies] since then [winning the world title] So I'm happy to get the trophy. ”

Littler, who reached the World Championship final as a 16-year-old earlier this year, has consistently won on his Premier League debut, but victory on the opening night remains a long way off.

On the fifth night, he defeated champion Nathan Aspinall 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals for the fifth time in six matches, but Smith took a 3-0 lead in the match and ultimately won 6-3. He did not advance to the finals for the second time.