2025 Czech Darts Open

Last updated
2025 Gambrinus Czech Darts Open
Tournament information
Dates5–7 September 2025
VenuePVA Expo
Location Prague, Czech Republic
Organisation(s) Professional Darts Corporation (PDC)
Format Legs
Prize fund£175,000
Winner's share£30,000
High checkout170 Wessel Nijman
Champion(s)
Flag of England.svg   Luke Humphries
«Event 10 Event 12»

The 2025 Czech Darts Open (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2025 Gambrinus Czech Darts Open) was a professional darts tournament that took place at the PVA Expo in Prague, Czech Republic, from 5 to 7 September 2025. [1] [2] It was the eleventh of fourteen PDC European Tour events on the 2025 PDC Pro Tour. It featured a field of 48 players and £175,000 in prize money, with £30,000 going to the winner.

Contents

Luke Humphries was the defending champion after defeating Kim Huybrechts 8–1 in the 2024 final. [3] He retained the title, his eighth European Tour win, by beating Josh Rock 8–5 in the final.

Prize money

The prize fund remained at £175,000, with £30,000 to the winner: [4] [5]

Stage (num. of players)Prize money
Winner(1)£30,000
Runner-up(1)£12,000
Semi-finalists(2)£8,500
Quarter-finalists(4)£6,000
Third round losers(8)£4,000
Second round losers(16)£2,500*
First round losers(16)£1,250
Total£175,000

Qualification and format

In a change from the previous year, the top 16 on the two-year main PDC Order of Merit ranking were seeded and entered the tournament in the second round, while the 16 qualifiers from the one-year PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit ranking entered in the first round. [7] [8] [9] In another change, the 16 Pro Tour Order of Merit qualifiers were drawn against one of the 16 other qualifiers in the first round.

The seedings were confirmed on 25 July. [10] The remaining 16 places went to players from four qualifying events – 10 from the Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 31 July), [11] four from the Host Nation Qualifier (held on 4 September), [12] one from the Nordic & Baltic Associate Member Qualifier (held on 5 July), [13] and one from the East European Associate Member Qualifier (held on 9 August). [14]

Gary Anderson withdrew from the event. He was replaced by Madars Razma from the reserve list, while Martin Schindler moved up to become 16th seed. [15]

The following players took part in the tournament: [16] [5]

Summary

First round

Nathan Aspinall (pictured) returned to competition for the first time since the World Matchplay. 2025-04-03 Premier League Darts Berlin 2025 by Sandro Halank-022.jpg
Nathan Aspinall (pictured) returned to competition for the first time since the World Matchplay.

The first round was played on 5 September. [17] Nathan Aspinall, competing in his first tournament since the World Matchplay, advanced to the second round with a whitewash win over Czech qualifier Jiří Brejcha. "I could tell I hadn't played darts for seven weeks," remarked Aspinall, who believed his rhythm during the match was "awful". [18] Dirk van Duijvenbode took a 4–0 lead against Cor Dekker before eventually winning 6–4, setting up a second-round tie against defending champion Luke Humphries. [17] Slovenia's Benjamin Pratnemer claimed his first victory on the European Tour by defeating Ricardo Pietreczko 6–4. [19] World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker beat European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse 6–3 to progress to a second-round match against world number three Michael van Gerwen; De Decker said that he would be "in for a tough task" if the best version of Van Gerwen showed up the following day. [18] Cameron Menzies set up a tie against reigning world champion Luke Littler by defeating Ian White 6–3 and commented that he was "buzzing to play ... the best darts player in the world". [18] Czech qualifier Lukáš Unger produced two ton-plus checkouts in his 6–3 loss to Madars Razma, while the other two Czech representatives, Karel Sedláček and Filip Maňák, lost to Ryan Joyce and Ryan Searle respectively. [19] Krzysztof Ratajski and William O'Connor increased their chances of qualifying for the World Grand Prix in their wins over Raymond van Barneveld and Luke Woodhouse. [17] Andrew Gilding came through a deciding leg against Darius Labanauskas to prevail 6–5, while Wessel Nijman defeated Dutch compatriot Richard Veenstra by the same scoreline. [20] Niko Springer survived several match darts from Joe Cullen to win 6–5. [21]

Second round

The second round was played on 6 September. [22] Luke Littler started his campaign by defeating Cameron Menzies 6–2, while Luke Humphries began his title defence with a 6–4 win against Dirk van Duijvenbode. [23] Michael van Gerwen recorded a three-dart average of 112.73 in his whitewash victory over Mike De Decker. "It's been hard for me the last year or so, my confidence level hasn't been great but if I keep working hard I can keep producing performances like this," said Van Gerwen following the win. [22] James Wade averaged 107.71 on his way to beating Nathan Aspinall 6–3, 2023 champion Peter Wright defeated Benjamin Pratnemer 6–2 and Stephen Bunting progressed with a 6–4 win over Kevin Doets. [22] Wessel Nijman led Damon Heta 4–1 but Heta managed to take the match to a deciding leg, hitting a 158 checkout in the process; Nijman won 6–5. [24] Welsh World Cup teammates Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton set up a tie against each other in the third round by beating Niko Springer and Ryan Joyce respectively. [22] In the last match of the round, Josh Rock defeated William O'Connor 6–2. [25] First-round winners Andrew Gilding, Madars Razma and Krzysztof Ratajski were eliminated in the second round, while seeded players Chris Dobey, Danny Noppert and Dave Chisnall lost to Jermaine Wattimena, Gian van Veen and Ryan Searle respectively. [23]

Final day

Luke Humphries (pictured) won his eighth European Tour title. 2025-04-03 Premier League Darts Berlin 2025 by Sandro Halank-098.jpg
Luke Humphries (pictured) won his eighth European Tour title.

The third round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final were played on Sunday 7 September. [26] The final day saw Luke Humphries and Josh Rock reach the final. Humphries beat Martin Schindler 6–3 in the third round, survived a deciding leg against Wessel Nijman in the quarter-finals and defeated James Wade 7–1 to book his place in the final; Nijman landed a 170 checkout in defeat. [27] Rock joined him after beating Michael van Gerwen 6–4, Jermaine Wattimena 6–1 and Gian van Veen 7–3. [26] [28] Van Veen had defeated world champions Luke Littler and Gerwyn Price to reach the semi-finals; he claimed his third consecutive win against Littler which ended Littler's 19-match winning streak on stage, before whitewashing Price 6–0. [26] [29] Rock was looking to win his first European Tour title of the year after finishing as runner-up at the Flanders Darts Trophy the previous week, while Humphries was looking to win the Czech Darts Open for the third time. [28]

In the final, Rock established leads of 2–0 and 3–1 early on. [28] [30] Humphries recovered and went ahead but Rock hit a 153 checkout in the eighth leg to level the match at 4–4. [27] Once at 5–5, Humphries took advantage of missed opportunities from Rock to take full control, following a 98 checkout by hitting double 10 to triumph 8–5. [28] He finished with a three-dart average of 93.89, slightly lower than Rock's 94.10. [30] Humphries retained the Czech Darts Open, marking his eighth European Tour title and his third Czech trophy after winning the tournament in 2022 and 2024. [30] He stated that he felt "a bit emotional" following the match and praised the crowd in Prague by saying, "If it were up to me, I'd have all 14 European Tours held here." "We both didn't play to our full potential," claimed Rock about the pair's final performances. Despite the loss, he expressed satisfaction in his recent form: "I'm starting to be a proper darts player, getting further in tournaments, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the year." [28]

Draw

The draw was announced on 4 September. [15] [5] Numbers to the left of a player's name show the seedings for the top 16 in the tournament. The figures to the right of a player's name state their three-dart average in a match. Players in bold denote match winners. [31]

First round
(best of 11 legs)
5 September
Second round
(best of 11 legs)
6 September
Third round
(best of 11 legs)
7 September
Quarter-finals
(best of 11 legs)
7 September
Semi-finals
(best of 13 legs)
7 September
Final
(best of 15 legs)
7 September
  Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Dirk van Duijvenbode 101.4361 Flag of England.svg   Luke Humphries 86.516
Flag of Norway.svg   Cor Dekker 86.584 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Dirk van Duijvenbode 83.544
1 Flag of England.svg   Humphries 98.936
16 Flag of Germany.svg   Schindler 97.323
  Flag of Latvia.svg   Madars Razma 87.77616 Flag of Germany.svg   Martin Schindler 93.606
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Lukáš Unger 83.203 Flag of Latvia.svg   Madars Razma 93.333
1 Flag of England.svg   Humphries 103.536
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Nijman 101.825
  Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Raymond van Barneveld 87.9518 Flag of England.svg   Rob Cross 97.816
Flag of Poland.svg   Krzysztof Ratajski 100.246 Flag of Poland.svg   Krzysztof Ratajski 85.751
8 Flag of England.svg   Cross 95.053
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Nijman 100.456
  Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Wessel Nijman 92.4669 Flag of Australia (converted).svg   Damon Heta 97.715
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Richard Veenstra 87.945 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Wessel Nijman 99.816
1 Flag of England.svg   Humphries 93.837
5 Flag of England.svg   Wade 85.401
  Ulster Banner.svg   Daryl Gurney 98.9144 Flag of England.svg   Stephen Bunting 96.706
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Kevin Doets 100.166 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Kevin Doets 88.444
4 Flag of England.svg   Bunting 95.106
13 Flag of Scotland.svg   Wright 95.985
  Flag of Germany.svg   Ricardo Pietreczko 86.78413 Flag of Scotland.svg   Peter Wright 83.246
Flag of Slovenia.svg   Benjamin Pratnemer 85.726 Flag of Slovenia.svg   Benjamin Pratnemer 76.042
4 Flag of England.svg   Bunting 101.965
5 Flag of England.svg   Wade 95.376
  Flag of England.svg   Nathan Aspinall 85.8965 Flag of England.svg   James Wade 107.716
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Jiří Brejcha 78.210 Flag of England.svg   Nathan Aspinall 98.223
5 Flag of England.svg   Wade 97.126
12 Flag of England.svg   Smith 105.344
  Flag of England.svg   Andrew Gilding 98.78612 Flag of England.svg   Ross Smith 90.546
Flag of Lithuania.svg   Darius Labanauskas 90.845 Flag of England.svg   Andrew Gilding 87.434
1 Flag of England.svg   Humphries 93.898
14 Ulster Banner.svg   Rock 94.125
  Flag of Scotland.svg   Cameron Menzies 100.9162 Flag of England.svg   Luke Littler 98.926
Flag of England.svg   Ian White 87.193 Flag of Scotland.svg   Cameron Menzies 90.362
2 Flag of England.svg   Littler 98.604
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   van Veen 100.866
  Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Gian van Veen 103.70615 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Danny Noppert 98.282
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Maik Kuivenhoven 99.653 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Gian van Veen 99.976
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   van Veen 101.336
7 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg   Price 104.190
  Flag of England.svg   Joe Cullen 88.6957 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg   Gerwyn Price 100.786
Flag of Germany.svg   Niko Springer 90.656 Flag of Germany.svg   Niko Springer 95.232
7 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg   Price 98.986
10 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg   Clayton 92.444
  Flag of England.svg   Ryan Joyce 85.89610 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg   Jonny Clayton 97.316
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg   Karel Sedláček 87.193 Flag of England.svg   Ryan Joyce 89.152
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   van Veen 90.593
14 Ulster Banner.svg   Rock 98.007
  Flag of Belgium (civil).svg   Mike De Decker 100.9063 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Michael van Gerwen 112.736
Flag of England.svg   Ritchie Edhouse 89.103 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg   Mike De Decker 96.460
3 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   van Gerwen 89.764
14 Ulster Banner.svg   Rock 103.186
  Flag of England.svg   Luke Woodhouse 92.80514 Ulster Banner.svg   Josh Rock 97.426
Flag of Ireland.svg   William O'Connor 93.616 Flag of Ireland.svg   William O'Connor 87.692
14 Ulster Banner.svg   Rock 110.656
Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Wattimena 106.991
  Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Jermaine Wattimena 89.1166 Flag of England.svg   Chris Dobey 92.972
Ulster Banner.svg   Brendan Dolan 85.684 Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Jermaine Wattimena 95.066
  Flag of the Netherlands.svg   Wattimena 99.236
Flag of England.svg   Searle 94.673
  Flag of England.svg   Ryan Searle 85.61611 Flag of England.svg   Dave Chisnall 93.504
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Filip Maňák 76.372 Flag of England.svg   Ryan Searle 103.276

References

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