World Matchplay: Luke Humphries suffers shock defeat by Gian van Veen

World number one and defending champion Luke Humphries suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the World Matchplay in Blackpool.

Humphries lost 10-8 to world youth champion Gian van Veen at the Winter Gardens with the 23-year-old Dutchman describing it as “the biggest win of my career”.

Humphries, who lifted the title 12 months ago after beating Michael van Gerwen, had been aiming to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back titles.

But Van Veen, who had six match darts before being beaten in a sudden-death leg on his debut last year by Rob Cross, started strongly, winning the opening two legs of the best-of-19-leg encounter.

And although Humphries took the next three, the 30-year-old struggled with his doubles throughout.

Van Veen edged 5-3 ahead only for Humphries to hit back again and go 7-6 up but a tense 15th leg won by Van Veen saw him take a key 8-7 advantage and, despite seeing a couple of match darts come and go in leg 17 to bring back memories of 12 months ago, he sealed the win in the next leg.

“To beat such a phenomenal player like Luke, I am over the moon,” Van Veen told Sky Sports. “He is a great champion and a great guy.

“At 6-6 and 7-7, I felt the pressure but I was happy I could keep up. Luke missed some chances but I took mine and it means so much.”

Van Veen’s reward is a meeting with compatriot Danny Noppert, who had a comfortable 10-2 win over Scottish debutant Cameron Menzies.

Nathan Aspinall, the 2023 champion, also exited the tournament after he lost 10-6 to another Dutch player – Wessel Nijman – but James Wade, who claimed the 2007 title, moved into the last 16 after easing past Joe Cullen 10-3.