Luke Humphries picked up his second nightly win of the Premier League season by taking the crown in night four in Exeter.
The world number one overcame Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross before defeating Luke Littler 6-4 in the final.
Speaking to Sky Sports after his triumph, he said: “It felt like hard work but I also felt like my game was in a good way. Littler played fantastic tonight, but didn’t play that great in the final and I managed to put my foot on the gas – like I did in the other two games – right at the end of the game.”
Humphries began his run with a quarter-final clash against Welshman Gerwyn Price. The first big moment of the match came four legs in. Price was leading 2-1 and against throw, sitting on a comfortable 48 to record the first break. Cool Hand was able to perform a rescue act however, taking out a 156 finish to bring himself level, and more importantly hold his throw.
The world number one was able to find the elusive break of throw in the ninth leg, before driving the advantage home in the next leg, which got him over the line to a 6-4 victory, keeping his record of qualifying for every semi-final this year alive.
In the other quarter-finals, Rob Cross got the better of Michael van Gerwen 6-5, Nathan Aspinall defeated Chris Dobey by the same scoreline, and Stephen Bunting made it four quarter-final exits out of four by falling 6-3 to Luke Littler.
In the semi-final, Humphries was to come up against fellow Englishman Rob Cross. The world number one made a good start, breaking throw immediately before backing it up with a hold to assert a 2-0 lead. Voltage was to bite back however, winning the break back in the sixth leg to bring the score back to 3-3, and with the advantage of throw to make him the favourite. He looked to have used that advantage well, as after nine legs he was 5-4 up, and had Humphries on the brink of elimination.
Cool Hand is never finished however, and he showed that in the next two legs. First, he took out a stunning 167 out to ensure the game went all the way, before producing another ton plus checkout, this time a 116, to break the Cross throw, and seal a 6-5 victory which moved him into a third nightly final of the year.
In the other semi-final, Luke Littler got the better of Nathan Aspinall by a comfortable scoreline of 6-2, setting up a rematch of the final that we saw in night two of the competition.
Littler sprung out of the traps immediately in the final, recording a 144 finish to win the first leg. He was also able to take the first break of throw in the match, which put him in what looked to be a commanding position at 3-1. He was not able to make this advantage count however, as he was immediately broken back by Humphries in the next leg. The match then remained on throw for a few legs, before the all-important moment came in leg nine.
Cool Hand was the one who found the break, which turned the game around, and saw him lead the contest 5-4. It was the perfect time for him to finally find the front, as it meant that Littler had to break him straight back to have any chance of winning the final. The Nuke was unable to do this, which ensured that the world number one secured a 6-4 win, and continued his fine start to the campaign with a second nightly title.
That victory means that Humphries stretches his lead at the top of the table even further, with Cool Hand now having a whopping 15 points to his name. Beaten finalist Littler moves up to second, with eight points, while the top four is completed by Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen, with seven points and six points respectively. The darts heads to the seaside next week, with Brighton playing host to the action.