Luke Humphries and Nathan Aspinall dumped OUT on Night One of the 2025 World Matchplay

The darts returned to the iconic Winter Gardens stage in Blackpool for another year of the Betfred World Matchplay. The opening night of the tournament featured a star-studded lineup, including reigning champion Luke Humphries and 2023 champion Nathan Aspinall.

Walking in a Wadey Wonderland

The first game of the evening saw a 20th consecutive Matchplay appearance for James Wade. The Machine is coming into this event as the ninth seed, after being unseeded in last year’s event. His opponent, Joe Cullen, has once again had a mixed bag of form in 2025, but a win here would increase his chances of remaining in the Top 32 come the end of 2025.

It was James Wade who was in cruise control at the first break, leading 4-1, averaging around the 105 mark, around 12 points higher than Cullen. Wade continued his blistering form in to the second session, but it was a bust score on a 108 checkout from Joe Cullen, which gifted the 2007 champion the opportunity to extend his lead even further.

A special performance from James Wade culminated in his highest ever average in his World Matchplay and a comfortable 10-3 win.

Disastrous Debut For Menzies

Danny Noppert kicked off his opening game of the tournament against Cameron Menzies in sensational style, pinning an 11 darter to take an early lead. Menzies was making his debut in Blackpool, and the nerves seemed to be showing early doors from the Scotsman, as he lost his concentration and hit a 180 whilst having 178 left. The woes continued as Cammy found himself 7-0 down, before he won his first leg to avoid the whitewash.

It was a debut to forget for Cameron Menzies, who averaged just 81 in a 10-2 defeat.

Early Exit For The Reigning Champion

Luke Humphries was looking to defend yet another major title in Blackpool, after defeating Michael van Gerwen 18-15 last year to win the Phil Taylor Trophy for the first time in 2024. The World Number One had a very tough test in round one however, a tie against reigning World Youth Champion Gian van Veen.

It was arguably the tie of the round, and it certainly lived up to the hype after the first five legs. Van Veen took an early 2-0 advantage but it was the reigning champion who led after the first quintet of legs, pinning a stunning 146 checkout to take the lead.

The next five legs led to some visible frustration from Luke Humphries, who seemed to get annoyed at whistling from the crows. The game continued to deliver as it was all square after ten legs. Gian van Veen continued to impress whilst Humphries continued to look frustrated.

The 2024 World Youth Champion managed to give himself match winning opportunities in the 17th and 18th leg, pinning a last dart double four to send the reigning champion packing.

Out of the Top 16

Nathan Aspinall needed to reach at least the semi-finals of this year’s event to prevent him dropping down to at least World Number 23, this was because he was defending £200,000 on his rankings after winning this title back in 2023. Wessel Nijman, another debutant, lay in his way in the first round.

As expected, the crowd seemed to get behind Aspinall early doors, cheering him on to win the opening leg. However, this fan fare was quickly silenced, with Wessel Nijman ahead by four legs to one at the break to stun the crazy Blackpool crowd.

Nijman missed a dart at the bullseye to lead 6-1, before Aspinall took out a 76 finish to stay just three legs behind his Dutch opponent, with both players averaging well over the 100 mark.

The match continued to deliver to the highest quality, with Wessel Nijman cruising to one of the biggest wins of his career to book his spot in the second round on debut and to condemn Nathan Aspinall to 23rd in the World Rankings.

2025 Betfred World Matchplay

Saturday, July 19 2025

First Round x4 Results

James Wade 10-3 Joe Cullen

Danny Noppert 10-2 Cameron Menzies

Luke Humphries 8-10 Gian van Veen

Nathan Aspinall 6-10 Wessel Nijman

Sunday, July 20 2025

First Round x8 Fixtures

Afternoon Session

Damon Heta vs Andrew Gilding

Rob Cross vs Dirk van Duijvenbode

Peter Wright vs Jermaine Wattimena

Dave Chisnall vs Mike De Decker

Evening Session

Gary Anderson vs Luke Woodhouse

Jonny Clayton vs Martin Schindler

Luke Littler vs Ryan Searle

Stephen Bunting vs Ryan Joyce