Luke Humphries powers to victory on opening night of Premier League in Belfast

Luke Humphries triumphed on the opening night of the BetMGM Premier League in Belfast as he cruised to a 6-1 win against Chris Dobey in the final.

World number one Humphries, who won the Winmau World Masters title on Sunday, produced a finishing masterclass against Dobey, having earlier beaten Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen at the SSE Arena.

Humphries raced into a 5-0 lead in a one-sided final and although world number 11 Dobey took out a 126-finish in the sixth leg to avoid a whitewash, the outcome was inevitable.

Luke Littler’s first match in defence of his Premier League crown ended in a thrilling 6-5 defeat to Van Gerwen, who gained some revenge for his World Championship final defeat to the teenager last month.

Littler was in sparkling form, averaging 113.91 – a new record in Belfast and the second highest losing average in Premier League history – and produced a 161-checkout on the bull to level the match at 2-2.

But an inspired Van Gerwen, a seven-time Premier League champion, edged a classic, averaging 105.91, while both players landed six 180s.

Van Gerwen failed to back up his opening win as he missed match dart on the bull in his semi-final against Humphries, who landed 140 and 120 checkouts before holding his nerve in a deciding leg to edge through 6-5.

Dobey overcame world number four Rob Cross in the first semi-final, completing checkouts of 170 and 120 on his way to a 6-4 win.

Humphries, who lost to Littler in last year’s Premier League final, launched his campaign with a 6-2 defeat of 2023 World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall.

Cross opened with a 6-4 win against World Championship semi-finalist Stephen Bunting and Dobey beat world number nine Gerwyn Price by the same score in his quarter-final.

The Premier League moves on to the OVO Hydro in Glasgow for its second night next Thursday.