Luke Humphries scraped through to the next round at the Poland Darts Open in Krakow after a tense 6-5 victory over crowd favorite Krzysztof Ratajski. The world number two had to withstand not only his opponent but also a noisy and hostile atmosphere at the Krakow Expo, where he was booed and jeered throughout the match. Humphries looked set for a comfortable win at 5-2, but Ratajski battled back with three legs on the spin to force a decider, which Humphries closed out to silence the Polish fans.
After the match, Humphries admitted the conditions were challenging, stating, "When you get crowds that don’t unfortunately give you that fair game that you want, it’s hard for me to perform." He added that the atmosphere may have backfired on his opponent, saying, "It probably put a lot of pressure on Krzysztof at the end there. He probably tried too hard. The crowd were fantastic to him, but I am just glad to win, to be honest." However, he noted that the World Championship final was tougher than this encounter.
Despite the win, Humphries was critical of his own inconsistent performance. He acknowledged struggling to sustain his level over an entire match, explaining, "My game at the moment, I am starting off like a train in every game I play, playing the best darts out of anybody. Then, all of a sudden, I am playing the worst darts. It’s just a strange scenario for me. I am playing unbelievably, then playing crap." He is still searching for an explanation, adding, "I don’t really know why. I am trying my best. I started off so well on the ProTour when I won it, but then it would drain out. I need to work out why that is happening. But that was really rubbish from myself tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I come back a different player and play like I have been."
