Jonny Clayton ends his wait for a title with win over Luke Humphries in Basel

Press Association Sport reporters

Jonny Clayton won his first European Tour title of the year with an 8-4 victory over Luke Humphries in the Swiss Darts Trophy final.

Little could separate the pair during the competition’s showpiece in Basel and a tight tussle saw the score locked at 4-4 until Clayton suddenly took charge.

The Welshman won four successive legs to race ahead and sealed victory with a checkout of 46, confirming his spot at the Grand Slam of Darts.

Clayton booked his place in the final with a 7-4 win over Gian van Veen in the semi-finals and threw at an average of 105 during that match.

The world number five’s route to Sunday’s final started with a 6-4 success over Rob Cross in round three, before he defeated Karel Sedlacek 6-2 in the quarter-finals.

Humphries put in an impressive semi-final display to reach the final with a thumping 7-4 win over Mensur Suljovic, averaging 111.17 throughout the match.

The world number two had also recorded another impressive average earlier in the day, averaging 114 during a 6-0 whitewash over Krzysztof Ratajski in round three. He then went on to beat Cristo Reyes 6-3 to book a place in the last four.

Bradley Brooks beat Jeffrey de Graaf 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of a European Tour for the first time, but the Englishman was subsequently edged out 6-5 by Van Veen.

Sunday’s other quarter-final tie saw Suljovic power to a 6-1 triumph over Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Elsewhere in round three, Josh Rock exited with a 6-2 loss to Sedlacek and Michael Smith slipped to a 6-3 loss against Van Duijvenbode.

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