Luke Humphries in fine form, despite losing epic Grand Prix final to Mike De Decker
Mike De Decker produced the performance of his life to claim BoyleSports World Grand Prix glory on Sunday night, defeating Newbury’s Luke Humphries 6-4 in sets at Leicester's Mattioli Arena.
The 28-year-old from Belgium had won through to his maiden televised final with a series of superb displays in the double-start tournament, and scooped the £120,000 top prize following a thrilling final.
Reigning champion Humphries was left reeling as De Decker came from a set down to lead 4-1 with a brilliant and nerveless burst.
The world number one hit back with three straight sets to level, but De Decker took set nine before closing out victory in the deciding leg of set ten.
De Decker was a 100/1 chance with sponsors BoyleSports ahead of the event, but has joined the elite roll of honour of World Grand Prix champions following a breakthrough week in Leicester.
"Luke has been a phenomenal champion for the last year and he's such a nice person,” he said.
"The way Luke has been playing since last year is just brilliant and being the person that beats him this weekend, in a final, picking up this trophy; I'm so happy!”
Humphries had stormed into the final with a sensational straight sets defeat of Ryan Joyce on Saturday - in which he averaged 100 - but De Decker's superior doubling proved crucial in seeing his bid to retain the title fall just short.
"I'm obviously gutted to lose - I felt like I really was just on the wires of everything," said Humphries.
"It’s frustrating but I'm so proud of Mike, he showed so much bottle. I know how it felt like to be in that position a year ago and he looked as cool as anything.
"It wasn't my night and sometimes you have to accept that it isn't - but you've got a great champion and he's got a target on his back now like I've got.
"He's a fantastic guy, a great player. There's a lot more big things to come from him after this."
The pair traded early 14-darters and Humphries finished a double-double 92 in the opening set, which the reigning champion took with a 14-darter after De Decker missed double ten to take first blood.
The Belgian, though, defied a 105 checkout from Humphries to take the second set's decider, punishing three misses from the World Champion with double 12 to level.
He then swept through set three with legs of 13, 14 and 15 darts before coming from a leg down to win the fourth with a stunning 154 combination.
The Belgian then edged the fifth in another deciding leg to establish a three-set cushion, before taking a two-leg lead in set six.
Humphries, though, showed his quality to respond with back-to-back checkouts of 149 and 152 to save the set, before pinning double 16 to reduce the gap to 4-2.
He then won set seven by a 3-1 margin, despite a 156 finish from De Decker, and then came from a leg down to edge the eighth in a deciding leg as a 67 finish squared the game.
The pair shared the opening two legs of set nine, before De Decker pinned tops and then finished 80 to claim the set and move 5-4 up.
Humphries continued his battle and shared the first four legs of set ten - which included an 11-darter from De Decker - before the Belgian finished 55 on tops to complete a remarkable display and seal World Grand Prix glory.
