James Wade landed his third Ladbrokes UK Open title in Milton Keynes on Sunday, defeating Luke Humphries 11-5 in the final.<\/p>\n
Now a winner of ten televised ranking titles, Wade expanded his impressive trophy haul with a first UK Open crown since 2011 thanks to a weekend of consistent performances at the Marshall Arena.<\/p>\n
Almost 13 years on from his first UK Open title, Wade’s success sees him join Phil Taylor in winning televised PDC titles across three decades.<\/p>\n
In addition, the \u00a3100,000 winner’s prize sees him move up to fourth in the PDC Order of Merit, overtaking Rob Cross as the highest-ranked Englishman.<\/p>\n
His first TV success since November 2018 was secured with a typically clinical display in the final against Humphries, who knocked out reigning champion Michael van Gerwen in the semis with a brilliant display but was unable to repeat the feat in the decider.<\/p>\n
Experience won the day as Wade – who averaged 102.52 and was on target with 41% of his checkout attempts – made the former World Youth Champion pay for 20 missed doubles.<\/p>\n
“To win TV titles across three decades is something I’m very proud of,” said Wade. “I’m enjoying it again, I think I’ve reinvented myself.<\/p>\n
“I’m very happy to be in the world of darts, it’s a great place to be when you’re winning.<\/p>\n
“I’m here to provide stability for my son and winning these allows me to do that.<\/p>\n
“Luke is quality, he’s a gentleman and he showed his quality in the way he dismantled Michael [van Gerwen] in the semi-finals.”<\/p>\n
In reaching the final Wade was at his unflappable best in defeating world number one Gerwyn Price 11-6 in the semi-finals, having produced a 10-8 comeback win over Simon Whitlock in the afternoon’s quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
Wade’s route to the title began with a scare from Ryan Joyce in round four as he came through a last-leg decider, before defeating Cross and Germany’s Gabriel Clemens in rounds five and six on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Despite coming up short in his first televised final, two-time World Youth Champion Humphries continued his progression and produced a sensational 107.41 average in his 11-5 semi-final win over Van Gerwen.<\/p>\n
Humphries, who edged out Dave Chisnall 10-9 in the quarter-finals, pockets the \u00a340,000 runners-up prize moves up eight places to 33rd on the PDC Order of Merit.<\/p>\n
“It’s been an incredible weekend for me, an emotional weekend,” the 26-year-old reflected.<\/p>\n
“To reach a TV final is the most unbelievable feeling. I think James is the best player in the world under pressure and he showed it in that game.<\/p>\n
“I’m here to achieve big things in darts and this run puts me in good stead going forward.<\/p>\n
“I want to be playing the best players week-in, week-out. I know I’ve got the game to do it. Tonight it wasn’t my night, but I’m proud of what I’ve achieved.”<\/p>\n
The Ladbrokes UK Open reached its climax on Sunday after 151 players competed in the tournament’s opening day on Friday.<\/p>\n
South Africa’s Devon Petersen reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2015, while Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski made it to the last eight for the first time before losing to Van Gerwen.<\/p>\n
2021 Ladbrokes UK Open Evening Session Final<\/strong> James Wade landed his third Ladbrokes UK Open title in Milton Keynes on Sunday, defeating Luke Humphries 11-5 in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"de":3003,"en":2999},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3002,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions\/3002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSunday March 7
\nAfternoon Session
\nQuarter-Finals<\/strong>
\nJames Wade 10-8 Simon Whitlock
\nGerwyn Price 10-9 Devon Petersen
\nLuke Humphries 10-9 Dave Chisnall
\nMichael van Gerwen 10-7 Krzysztof Ratajski<\/p>\n
\nSemi-Finals<\/strong>
\nJames Wade 11-6 Gerwyn Price
\nLuke Humphries 11-5 Michael van Gerwen<\/p>\n
\nJames Wade 11-5 Luke Humphries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"