Tuesday's World Darts Championship tips: Luke Littler in dreamland and Luke Humphries to shine

It's been a tournament for the ages, we've seen iconic comebacks, shocks galore, sudden-death deciders and new names entering the fray, but now there is only four left in the fight for the Sid Waddell trophy. 

Luke Littler has shone during this year's World Championship and has capitalised on the exits of top seeds like Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price to find himself just two wins away from an iconic world title win. 

The teenager's heroics have put Scott Williams' antics in the shadows, as he has beaten all the odds to be in the last four and has claimed the notable scalps of Michael Van Gerwen, Damon Heta and Danny Noppert.

He will be facing Luke Humphries, who has been in stunning form all year, while Rob Cross has been showing the type of form that saw him beat the legendary Phil Taylor to win the title in 2018 and will be Littler's biggest test yet.

 

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Tuesday's match schedule

Evening session (from 19:30 GMT)

Rob Cross vs Luke Littler 

Scott Williams vs Luke Humphries

 

Our first betting selection comes in the mouthwatering clash between 16-year-old sensation Luke Littler and 2018 world champion Rob Cross.

Littler has dominated the headlines during this year's tournament and is well worth the acclaim he has been receiving.

He swept aside Brendan Dolan in the quarter-final and he beat his childhod idol Raymond Van Barneveld in the round of 16, which is even more impressive when you take into account 'The Nuke's' averages in those games, 101.93 and 105.01 respectively.

Littler, who has hit 34 180s in the tournament so far, will face his biggest test yet in the form of Cross, who is the only world champion still in with a shout of further Ally Pally succes.

In his quarter-final, Cross came from four sets down to beat Chris Dobey 5-4 in one of the greatest comebacks ever seen in Darts.

In the final five sets of the match, Cross averaged 102.49 and was imperious on the doubles, with a 68% success rate.

Cross did show the form that we know he can produce in the second half of the match, but his slow start to the game will be something that will have worried 'Voltage' and if he has a start like that against Littler, it's more than likely that the teenager will make him pay, as Littler has dropped only four sets in the tournament, the same amount that Cross lost in a single match against Dobey.

Despite Cross' previous escapades on the Ally Pally stage, we're predicting the Littler wave to continue with a win in under 9.5 sets and there to be over 25 match 180s.

The second semi-final may not be attracting the same levels of attention, but it still should be a brilliant contest.

Underdog Scott Williams takes on pre-tournament favourite Luke Humphries and Cool Hand Luke should certainly not underestimate Wiliams, who is looking to add to his three big name scalps. 

Williams stunned the darting world with a win over three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen in his quarter-final and he will need to bring the levels he had in that game, if he wants to beat another one of the world's best.

Humphries had not looked at his best for the majority of the tournament, but his dominant 5-1 victory over Chisnall was more like the Cool Hand Luke that dominated the sport in the second half of 2023.

Williams has been one of the biggest 180 makers in the tournament, with a total of 37 180s throughout his campaign, which is three more than Littler's tally. 

Meanwhile, Humphries is quickly becoming renowned for his big checkouts, his 164 against Chisnall and his tops-tops checkout against Joe Cullen will live long in the memory of Darts fans. 

Williams has defied the odds to reach this stage, but we're predicting Humphries to win, hit the most 180s and have the highest checkout to set up a potential battle of the Lukes in the final.

 

Suggested bets: 

Rob Cross vs Luke Littler: Littler to win in under 9.5 sets, over 25 match 180s

Scott Williams vs Luke Humphries: Humphries to win, hit the most 180s and have the highest checkout