Ladbrokes UK Open 2025 Day Three Preview and Order of Play | Final eight face off for the title
The 2025 UK Open draws to a close in Minehead on Sunday as the final eight face off for the right to be crowned champion.
Friday saw 158 players descend on the Butlins Minehead Resort, now just eight remain in the running for the £110,000 top prize.
With play having been held across eight stages during the first two days of the event, focus now shifts solely to the Main Stage, with the afternoon’s Quarter-Finals followed by the Semi-Finals and final in the evening session.
The Last Eight line-up features two former UK Open champions and two former finalists, as well as a further quartet of decorated darters.
The opening quarter-final sees reigning World Champion Luke Littler take on reigning World Youth Champion Gian van Veen.
Littler is bidding to eclipse his run to the quarter-finals here 12 months ago and add this title to his Premier League, World Series Finals, Grand Slam and World Championship silverware.
The 18-year-old needed a deciding leg to fend off a vintage Peter Wright in Friday’s opener, before thrashing Jermaine Wattimena 10-4 with a 104 average and edging past Krzysztof Ratajski 10-8 in the Last 16.
Van Veen is appearing in his third major ranking quarter-final in the space of as many years, having gone one better than his run to the Last 16 here in 2024.
The 22-year-old brushed aside Nick Kenny 10-4 on Friday night, before seeing off Stephen Burton 10-7 and coming through a breath-taking contest with Damon Heta in a deciding leg with a 109 average and 10/13 on the doubles last night.
Meanwhile, world number one Luke Humphries takes on three-time UK Open champion James Wade in a repeat of the 2021 final.
Wade prevailed when the pair met behind closed doors in Milton Keynes during the pandemic, and that triumph remains the left-hander’s most recent major title.
Humphries came agonisingly close to claiming this crown again 12 months ago, losing out in a last-leg decider to Dimitri van den Bergh in the final, and will be determined to make this his eighth ranking major since October 2023.
The World Masters champion has remarkably won 25 of his last 27 legs contested on the main stage, having battled back to deny Beau Greaves in Round Four, before sensationally whitewashing Ryan Searle and going on to demolish Ryan Joyce 10-2.
Wade has gone about his business as efficiently as ever on the outer boards, progressing to a seventh UK Open quarter-final courtesy of wins over Scottish duo Willie Borland and Cameron Menzies, as well as a 10-8 success over Robert Owen.
Nathan Aspinall, the other former champion left standing in the competition, continues his quest to replicate his 2019 success when he faces Josh Rock.
Aspinall famously clinched the title here with a 170 checkout and is appearing in the quarter-finals for the second time in three years.
The Premier League star started out with a 10-5 win over Grand Slam finalist Martin Lukeman, before thrashing Jurjen van der Velde 10-2 and landing four ton-plus checkouts in a 10-6 success over William O’Connor.
Rock has reached only his second major ranking quarter-final since joining the PDC in 2022, courtesy of victories over Justin Hood, Ross Smith and 2019 finalist Rob Cross.
A resurgent Michael Smith takes on World Masters runner-up Jonny Clayton in another tasty tussle.
Smith was runner-up here in 2022, agonisingly missing a match dart in the final against Danny Noppert, and has seemingly put his recent injury problems to one side this weekend.
Having endured a nightmare start to the ProTour campaign, Smith has returned to winning ways when it matters most, avenging his World Championship defeat to Kevin Doets, before overcoming Madars Razma 10-7 and thrashing an out of sorts Van den Bergh 10-3 in the Last 16.
Clayton is appearing in his first quarter-final here since reaching the semis in 2020 and has continued his terrific start to the season, having narrowly missed out on Winmau World Masters glory in a deciding leg last month.
The former Premier League champion began by hammering Gary Anderson 10-3 on Friday night and has gone on to dispatch Alan Soutar and Martin Schindler on Stage Two.
The action gets under way from 12.45pm GMT, with Quarter-Final ties to be contested over the best of 19 legs, while the Semi-Finals and final are best of 21.
The draw for the semi-finals will be conducted live on the main stage following the fourth quarter-final.
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UK Open 2025 Day Three Schedule
Sunday March 2
Afternoon Session (12.45pm-5pm)
Quarter-Finals
Gian van Veen v Luke Littler
Josh Rock v Nathan Aspinall
Jonny Clayton v Michael Smith
James Wade v Luke Humphries
Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
Semi-Finals
Final
