World No 1 Luke Humphries defended his Czech Darts Open title in Prague, defeating Josh Rock 8-5 in the final.

The world champion has now won three times in Prague – defending the crown he won in 2022 as well as last year – as he produced a dominant day of darts at the PVA Expo.

Humphries earlier in the day dispatched Martin Schindler, Wessel Nijman and James Wade before finishing the job against Rock, who endured a second European Tour defeat in a row just seven days on from losing the Flanders Trophy final.

Humphries, who was roared on by the passionate crowd throughout, thanked the fans in the Czech capital after picking up the eighth European title of his career.

“I feel a bit emotional,” said Humphries. “Sometimes when I play, I don’t always feel the love – but here, I really do. I’ve felt it in every game I’ve played.

“If it were up to me, I’d have all 14 European Tours held here. You don’t win three times in the same place by accident – it’s clearly special to me.”

Luke Littler saw his 19-match winning run come to an end as he fell to defeat against Gian van Veen in the afternoon session on Sunday, while Michael van Gerwen was eliminated by Rock at the same stage.

In the final, Rock punished a sluggish start from Humphries to establish a 3-1 cushion, before defying a terrific three-leg burst from the world No 1 to restore parity with a 153 checkout in leg eight.

However, Rock paid the price for spurning three darts to level at six apiece, as Humphries followed up a clinical 98 kill by pinning double 10 to retain his title in the Czech capital.

The Northern Irishman took the positives from another excellent tournament, as he completed a hat-trick of wins over the Dutch on Sunday by beating Van Gerwen, Van Veen and Jermaine Wattimena before falling at the final hurdle once again.

“We both didn’t play to our full potential,” said Rock, “but I’m obviously happy to get to the final two weeks in a row, because it’s very hard when it comes to these European Tour tournaments.

“Back-to-back finals – happy days – I’ll get to another one yet. I’m happy with my last two weeks, so I cannot complain.

“I’m starting to be a proper darts player, getting further in tournaments, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the year. On to the next one!”

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