Luke Humphries won his maiden European Tour title with a remarkable Easter success in the Interwetten German Darts Grand Prix at Zenith in Munich.

Former World Youth Champion Humphries has made huge strides towards establishing himself in the world’s top 16 by the past 18 months, reaching the 2021 UK Open final and winning his first Players Championship earlier this year.

He has taken a further step on the ladder towards the sport’s elite following a stunning German Darts Grand Prix victory, which was capped by an 8-2 defeat of Martin Lukeman in Monday night’s final.

Humphries also achieved the remarkable feat of whitewashing Michael van Gerwen 7-0 in the semi-finals with a brilliant display, averaging 107 and finishing seven doubles from 12 attempts whilst limiting the Dutchman to just one dart at the outer ring.

The Newbury star had also followed up Sunday’s second round win over Jeffrey de Zwaan with ton-plus averages in defeating Michael Smith and Wesley Plaisier during the final day. He led 2-0 in the final before Lukeman hit back to trail 3-2, but five straight legs saw Humphries pull clear to close out a memorable win.

Lukeman’s dream run to a first European Tour final had begun on Saturday as he defeated Adam Gawlas before seeing off Germany’s Gabriel Clemens in round two to book a spot in the final day.

The Watford thrower then edged out Keane Barry in a deciding leg, saw off Martin Schindler 6-4 and then overcame Damon Heta 7-5 to seal a place in the final, where he earned a career-high £10,000 pay-day.

Van Gerwen had produced ton-plus averages against Rob Cross and Keegan Brown as he won through to the last four, only to see his bid to claim back-to-back European Tour titles shattered by Humphries.

Heta was also in fine form during Monday’s latter stages, defeating Scott Waites and Jonny Clayton before being edged out by Lukeman. Plaisier won an all-Dutch third round tie with Dirk van Duijvenbode as he reached the last eight alongside Premier League star Clayton, German favourite Schindler and former World Youth Champion Brown.

The next PDC European Tour event will be the Austrian Darts Open in Graz from April 29-May 1, with coverage available through DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and through PDCTV in other worldwide territories.

2022 Interwetten German Darts Grand Prix

Monday April 18th

(13.00 local time, 12.00 BST)
THIRD ROUND (11)
Keane Barry 5-6 Martin Lukeman
Martin Schindler 6-1 Ryan Searle
Scott Waites 3-6 Damon Heta
Jonny Clayton 6-1 Max Hopp
Madars Razma 4-6 Keegan Brown
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Rob Cross
Michael Smith 3-6 Luke Humphries
Wesley Plaisier 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode

(19.00 local time, 18.00 BST)
QUARTER-FINALS (11)
Martin Lukeman 6-4 Martin Schindler
Damon Heta 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Keegan Brown 2-6 Michael van Gerwen
Luke Humphries 6-5 Wesley Plaisier

SEMI-FINALS (13)
Martin Lukeman 7-5 Damon Heta
Michael van Gerwen 0-7 Luke Humphries

FINAL (15)
Martin Lukeman 2-8 Luke Humphries

Prize Fund:

Champion £25,000
Runner-Up £10,000
Semi Finals: £6,500
Quarter Final: 5,000
Last 16: £3,000
Last 32: £2,000
Last 48: £1,000
TOTAL: £140,000

1st/2nd Round Results:

FIRST ROUND (11)               
Boris Krcmar 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
Berry van Peer 6-4 Daniel Larsson
Martin Lukeman 6-3 Adam Gawlas
Wesley Plaisier 6-3 Jim Williams
Keegan Brown 6-2 Adam Hunt
Scott Waites 6-1 Dragutin Horvat
Chris Dobey 6-2 John O’Shea
Karel Sedlacek Bye
Madars Razma 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Max Hopp 6-4 Alan Soutar
Danny Baggish 6-2 Thomas Junghans
Keane Barry 6-4 Lukas Wenig
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-5 Vincent van der Voort
Martin Schindler 6-3 Jermaine Wattimena
Raymond van Barneveld 6-0 James Wilson
Ryan Meikle 4-6 Dave Chisnall

SECOND ROUND (11)
Callan Rydz 3-6 Keegan Brown
Rob Cross 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Boris Krcmar
Jose de Sousa 4-6 Madars Razma
Joe Cullen 4-6 Wesley Plaisier
Luke Humphries 6-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Brendan Dolan 5-6 Martin Schindler
Jonny Clayton 6-2 Dave Chisnall
Dimitri Van den Bergh 3-6 Max Hopp
Damon Heta 6-4 Raymond van Barneveld
Gabriel Clemens 3-6 Martin Lukeman
Gerwyn Price (W) v Keane Barry
Peter Wright 5-6 Scott Waites
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Chris Dobey
Ryan Searle 6-2 Danny Baggish
Michael Smith 6-4 Berry van Peer