Luke Humphries continued his bid for back-to-back BoyleSports World Grand Prix titles on Wednesday, as Rob Cross, Jonny Clayton and Ryan Joyce also moved through to the quarter-finals in Leicester.
Day Three of the double-start showpiece saw the second round action get underway at the Mattioli Arena, as reigning champion Humphries took centre stage.
Humphries launched an astonishing fightback to deny Stephen Bunting on Monday’s opening night, relinquishing the opening five legs before battling back to preserve his title hopes.
The 29-year-old didn’t require such heroics against Pietreczko, extending his winning run at the World Grand Prix to seven matches with a 3-1 victory over the German.
Humphries – who also defeated Pietreczko on his way to lifting World Championship and World Matchplay titles over the last 12 months – put in a classy display to march on in the East Midlands.
Pietreczko recovered from a sluggish start to level the contest at one set apiece, only for Humphries to regain control with a magnificent 130 checkout to round off set three.
The world number one was then indebted to another clinical combination finish in the latter stages, as he completed a classy 90 kill on the bull to seal his progress.
“Ricardo played a fantastic game of darts,” declared Humphries, who averaged 92 and landed three 180s to book his quarter-final berth.
“If he played anybody else tonight he might have won the game, but I managed to scrape through in the end.
“Those six darts at the end of the third set were crucial. It could have been a lot different, but that 180 followed by the 130 won me that game.”
Humphries will go head-to-head with 2021 champion Jonny Clayton for a place in the semi-finals, after the Welshman saw off Ross Smith 3-1 in the evening’s finale.
Smith averaged 101.79 in his first round demolition of Gian van Veen, and he made a similarly blistering start against Clayton, landing 149 and 145 checkouts in the opening exchanges.
However, Clayton worked his way back into the contest, reeling off three consecutive sets to advance to his first televised ranking quarter-final since July 2023.
"The way I started the game, I thought I had no chance here tonight," said Clayton, the eighth seed this week.
"You have to find something, but it's really difficult when you're playing against a good friend like Ross.
"I just dug deep and managed to get over the line. It's a massive win for me, and I'm looking forward to playing Luke now.
"He's the best dart player on the planet, but if you want to win these tournaments you've got to beat the best, so if I want to win this, I've got to beat him."
Earlier in the night, 2018 World Champion Cross ran out a comfortable 3-1 winner against Martin Schindler to move through to his maiden World Grand Prix quarter-final.
Cross stormed to the opening set in three straight legs to seize the early initiative, only for Schindler to reply with a three-leg blitz of his own to restore parity.
However, the fourth seed then overturned a 2-0 deficit to clinch set three, before punishing Schindler’s double-start woes in the fourth to complete a hard-fought victory.
“I’ve had a lot of trials and tribulations at this tournament, so it’s an amazing feeling to be in the quarter-finals,” revealed Cross, who overcame Luke Littler in round one.
“I’ve started to feel a bit more comfortable at times this year, so that’s improvement, and things are going in the right direction.
“I’m looking forward to Friday now. Ryan is a really strong finisher, and he reminds me a little bit of myself. I will have to improve, but I’m going to put everything into that game."
Joyce, meanwhile, moved to through to the quarter-finals with a sudden-death victory over 2022 runner-up Nathan Aspinall, after surviving three match darts in a gripping finale.
Following ten consecutive holds of throw to kick off the contest, Joyce converted a clinical 110 kill to move 2-1 ahead, only for Aspinall to average 107 in a thrilling fourth set to preserve his hopes.
However, the Stockport star squandered three match darts across two legs in the closing stages, and Joyce capitalised to advance to his third televised ranking quarter-final.
“I thought I held myself together really well in that final set,” reflected Joyce, who provisionally moves into the world’s top 32 for the first time.
“Nathan put me under so much pressure, but I’m absolutely delighted to go through.
“This is a tournament that I absolutely love playing in. I am 100 per cent certain I can win this title.
“I’ve prepared well for this tournament, I’m a dangerous opponent and I’m going to give it my best shot!”
The second round of the BoyleSports World Grand Prix continues on Thursday, as former champions Gerwyn Price and James Wade go head-to-head for a place in the quarter-finals.
2017 champion Daryl Gurney takes on Joe Cullen, two-time runner-up Dave Chisnall plays Dimitri Van den Bergh, while 2016 runner-up Gary Anderson faces Mike De Decker in the evening’s opener.
The BoyleSports World Grand Prix is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
2024 BoyleSports World Grand Prix
Wednesday October 9
4x Second Round matches
Ryan Joyce 3-2 Nathan Aspinall (2-3, 3-2, 3-1, 2-3, 3-2)
Rob Cross 3-1 Martin Schindler (3-0, 0-3, 3-2, 3-1)
Luke Humphries 3-1 Ricardo Pietreczko (3-0, 1-3, 3-1, 3-1)
Jonny Clayton 3-1 Ross Smith (0-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-1)
Thursday October 10 (1900 BST)
4x Second Round matches
Gary Anderson v Mike De Decker
Gerwyn Price v James Wade
Daryl Gurney v Joe Cullen
Dave Chisnall v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Second Round - Best of Five Sets