Luke Humphries enjoyed the perfect start to the 2025 BetMGM Premier League season on Thursday, dispatching Chris Dobey 6-1 to prevail on Night One in Belfast.
Humphries made a statement start to this year’s roadshow at The SSE Arena, defeating Nathan Aspinall, Michael van Gerwen and Dobey to claim a five-point haul on the tournament’s opening night.
The world number one came into Thursday’s play fresh from lifting the revamped Winmau World Masters last weekend, and he extended that winning run in the Northern Irish capital.
Humphries averaged 105 to run out an emphatic 6-2 winner against Aspinall in the quarter-finals, before edging out seven-time champion Van Gerwen in a dramatic semi-final showdown.
The 29-year-old survived a match dart at the bull to book his place in the Night One showpiece, defying a blistering mid-match burst from the Dutchman on his way to victory.
Humphries then put in a devastating display of doubling to sweep aside Dobey, converting a trio of ton-plus checkouts and pinning six of his seven attempts at double.
The 2023/24 World Champion seized the initiative with 128 and 100 combinations in the opening two legs, with Dobey’s solitary leg coming courtesy of a 126 on the bull in the closing stages.
“I thought I played pretty well tonight,” reflected Humphries, who hit 64% of his attempts at double across his three matches.
“I was very fortunate against Michael. It’s not usually like him to miss that amount of doubles, and then I finished really well against Chris.
“I’m really happy to make a good start. My goal was just to get into the top four – that’s all that matters.
“Whether you finish first, second, third or fourth, it does not matter, as long as you’re in that top four, so it’s a great start for myself, following on from last weekend.
“I am always striving to be better, because there are so many great players in this tournament, and I think this is the toughest Premier League line-up for a very long time.”
Dobey prevailed on Night One in Belfast two years ago, and the Bedlington star again impressed at the SSE Arena, celebrating 6-4 wins over former World Champions Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross.
Dobey pinned six of his ten attempts at double to deny Price in Thursday’s curtain-raiser, before converting successive 170 and 120 checkouts against Cross, overturning a 4-3 deficit to triumph.
Cross had seen off Stephen Bunting in his earlier quarter-final clash, producing a polished display on the outer ring to condemn the Liverpudlian to an early exit on his return to the Premier League fold.
Elsewhere, Van Gerwen edged out reigning champion Littler in a compelling last eight clash, defying a 113.91 average to topple the teenage sensation in a deciding-leg thriller.
The pair crashed in six 180s apiece in a contest littered with quality, as Littler registered the second highest losing average in Premier League history.