Cross loses two darts finals in two weeks - to same opponent

The world No10 from St Leonards was runner-up to Luke Humphries in the Interwetten European Darts Grand Prix on Sunday, just as he was in the Czech Darts Open seven days previously.

This time Cross took the final o a deciding leg, but 13th-ranked Humphries landed a 108 checkout to secure an 8-7 victory - and with it his third European Tour title of the year - in Stuttgart.

Cross, who averaged 101.82 and hit four 180s, said: "Credit to Luke, I thought he played great. He was the better player and if he’d hit doubles earlier I was out of there earlier."

Cross wins thriller at world championships.

The 2018 world champion recovered from 3-1, 6-3 and 7-5 down to level at 7-7, and was sitting on double top in the last leg when Humphries produced his third ton-plus outshot of a superb contest.

Cross reached his third European Tour final of the year - and seventh of his career - courtesy of an outstanding performance in the semi-finals, averaging a remarkable 110.73 to defeat world number 19 Damon Heta 7-4.

The 31-year-old saw off Austrian player Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4 in the quarter-finals with a 97.61 average and two ton-plus finishes, the highest of which was 116.

Cross pulled off an extraordinary display of finishing to triumph by the same score against 15th-ranked Polish thrower Krzysztof Ratajski in the last 16, hitting all six of his darts at a double, one of which sealed a rare 170 checkout. He averaged 98.85.

The reigning European Championship winner began his run in Germany with a 6-5 success against Dutch thrower Jelle Klaasen on Saturday.

The previous weekend, Cross was beaten 8-5 by Humphries in the Czech Open final after losing all of the last three legs.

He beat Vincent van der Voort 7-4, Ross Smith 6-4, Ricky Evans 6-2 and Jules van Dongen 6-2 in the previous rounds.