\n<\/p>\n
The night started with a bang as the two biggest darts stars in the world played out a high-quality contest that went down to a final-leg decider.<\/p>\n
Humphries and Littler both hit seven 180s and averaged over 102 and 105 respectively, but both were surprisingly poor on the outer ring – missing 28 doubles between them.<\/p>\n
Humphries was the better player throughout, but at 4-1 up he started missing doubles badly, 17 in all by the end of the match, as Littler engineered an escape to make it five straight wins against his big rival.<\/p>\n
World number two Humphries has now lost 11 of his 15 Premier League meetings with Littler, with his last victory of any kind against the 19-year-old coming in the tournament’s final last May.<\/p>\n
The past four defeats before this one came in tournament finals, and perhaps it is becoming a mental barrier now for the defending Premier League champion as his scoring was solid all game, but he could just not get over the line.<\/p>\n
Comebacks were a theme of the opening quarter-finals with all bar Van Gerwen’s stroll against an out-of-sorts Josh Rock filled with excitement.<\/p>\n
Stephen Bunting finished bottom of the table last year after failing to win a single match in the first eight weeks, but looked to have one sewn up when leading 4-0, only to watch Jonny Clayton reel off six straight legs to win 6-4.<\/p>\n
And Price had to come from 3-1 and 4-2 down to beat Gian van Veen in the first of his two 6-5 victories on the night. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n