Peter Wright produced brilliance against Luke Humphries (Picture: Getty Images)
Defending champion Luke Humphries has been stunned 4-1 by Peter Wright in the last 16 of the World Darts Championship.
Snakebite turned in a stunning performance to down Cool Hand, which saw him hit 70 per cent of his efforts at double, 14 out of 20.
Humphries was not at his superb best, but he was far from terrible against the two-time former champion, averaging 99.23 to Wright’s 100.93
It was the veteran’s doubling that made the difference though, with as good a display of finishing as you are likely to see in a contest of this stature.
‘Luke gave me a load of chances there, he didn’t play like he can,’ said Wright.
‘I’ve been struggling with form all year. So annoying, I know I can still play darts. I’ve switched to another set [of darts] there to try and find something.
‘Lucky I wasn’t playing Luke Humphries of last year because he was absolutely awesome.’
Luke Humphries couldn’t handle Peter Wright’s sharp finishing (Picture: Getty Images)
Asked how he produced such good form after a year to forget on the tour, he said: ‘Because I’m a double world champion, I want to win it a third time, I’m not too old.
‘You’ve only got to play well two or three weeks in the whole year. It doesn’t matter what you do the rest of the year, these three weeks are all that matters.’
Wright came to Ally Pally having fallen out of the world’s top 16, ranked 17 which saw him take on the world number one before the quarter-final stage.
His results in televised majors have been poor over the last year, with first round exits at the Matchplay and Grand Prix after losing in his opening game at Ally Pally to Jim Williams 12 months ago.
He appears to be back with a bang, though, even if he is still switching his darts mid game, and even mid leg at times.
The 54-year-old moves into the quarter-finals where he will play either Stephen Bunting or Luke Woodhouse.
Gerwyn Price is also finding form again on the big stage (Picture: Getty Images)
Also booking his spot in the last eight on Sunday night was Gerwyn Price after he beat his fellow Welshman Jonny Clayton 4-2.
The Iceman will play either Kevin Doets or Chris Dobey in the last eight.
‘I flew out the blocks, knew I was playing well the first two sets then let him back in,’ said Price. ‘I had a kick up the backside and started playing a little bit better, fell over the winning line again.’
Still to come in the last 16 on Monday is Robert Owen facing Callan Rydz, Ricardo Pietreczko taking on Nathan Aspinall, Michael van Gerwen playing Jeffrey De Graaf and Luke Littler meeting Ryan Joyce.