Wayne Mardle expects Luke Humphries to head into the World Grand Prix final against Gerwyn Price with plenty of belief. The Sky Sports analyst was impressed by the way Humphries dispatched James Wade in his semi-final, while Price's win over Nathan Aspinall left him far less convinced.
Humphries beat Wade 5-3 with an average around 96. According to Mardle, the most striking element was how consistently "Cool Hand Luke" maintained his level. "He did not have an offset at all," Mardle analysed on Sky Sports. "From the very start it was a 96-97 average in the first set and he ended up with a 96 average. It was just relentless." Wade managed to take three sets, but Mardle never really felt that 'The Machine' was going to take control of the match. "James Wade actually did well to hang in, but I felt he was hanging on to Luke's coat tails and he just succumbed in the end."
Mardle also thinks it matters that Humphries was pleased with his own display. "He feels this was close to his best level, and that breeds confidence." That contrasts, the former pro says, with Price's semi-final. The Welshman did win 5-2 against Aspinall, but he impressed Mardle far less. "I don't think Gezzy [Price] was at all impressive tonight. I know he won, I just feel that Luke going into that final now will obviously fancy it."
Still, Mardle is not writing Price off. He points out that both finalists have had patchy spells during the tournament. "It's easy to look back and think that Luke's been inconsistent, but so has Gezzy, to a point." For Mardle, Price was the standout of the opening round. "Who was the star of the opening round? It was Price. He played fantastic but since then, he hasn't reached those heights. It doesn't mean that he can't again."
With Humphries, Mardle sees a positive trend. Whenever the Englishman needed to raise his game during the event, he found it. "I think it's really impressive the way that he's actually had to play better and did play better in the two games he's had to do it. He did enough to beat Chizzy [Dave Chisnall]. It wasn't impressive, but putting those bad performances behind him and not worrying about them is growth as well." Mardle mainly hopes both players hit top gear at the same time on Sunday night. "What we both want, what we all want, is for the pair of them to come out guns blazing. Then, then we could have a brilliant final on our hands. I just hope it works out that way."
