World number 1 Humphries has seen off both Joe Cullen and Josh Rock so far, while Heta has got the better of Ross Smith and Gerwyn Price.

Humphries comes into this clash as the heavy favourite and his superior class should tell. After easing himself into the tournament with a win over Cullen, ‘Cool Hand’ was then ruthlessly efficient when overcoming Rock, cruising to a 4-0 straight-sets victory, losing just 2 legs along the way. His performance was made all the more impressive by the fact that he had a conversion rate of just over 66% on his doubles.

While Heta will represent Humphries’ toughest test so far, the Australian number 1 required a last leg decider to get past Price, in a game where he averaged less than the Welshman and lost the 180 battle 6-0. Thus, ‘The Heat’ will have to up his game here if he is to overcome Humphries. ‘Cool Hand’ has come out on top in 9 of the overall 11 meetings between the pair and he looks well placed to rack up another win here.

Danny Noppert and Stephen Bunting will square off in the second quarter-final of the afternoon. Dutchman Noppert has dispatched Michael Smith and William O’Connor to reach this stage, while Bunting has plotted his path to the last 8 thanks to wins over Willie Borland and Peter Wright.

Bunting is throwing the best darts of his life at the moment and he should prove too hot to handle for ‘The Freeze’. The St Helens star stormed his way through to the semi-final stage of the 2025 World Darts Championship just last month and he has since been the standout performer across both the Bahrain and Dutch Darts Masters respectively, winning the former and finishing as runner-up in the latter.

Noppert, on the other hand, has hardly been pulling up trees on the PDC circuit over the last year or so. While the Dutchman cannot be underestimated, his quarter-final clash with Bunting will represent a serious upgrade on his previous 2 challengers at this year’s new-look Masters.

Bunting has triumphed in each of the previous 3 meetings between the pair, so that could serve as a psychological advantage, not to mention he will have the backing of the Milton Keynes crowd behind him.

Luke Littler will look to take another step closer to a maiden Masters title when he comes up against Jonny Clayton on Sunday afternoon. Pre-tournament favourite Littler has made light work of Andy Baetens and James Wade to secure a quarter-final spot, while Clayton has knocked out Martin Schindler and Ryan Searle.

Littler should get the job done here and backing him to do so alongside hitting the most 180s seems like a sensible solution. Serial 180-hitter Littler is yet to lose a single set across his opening 2 outings at this year’s Masters, remarkably winning every available leg in his round 2 win over Wade. The teenage trailblazer comfortably came out on top on the 180-front when overcoming ‘The Machine’, hitting 4 without reply.

While ‘The Ferret’ is expected to put up stiffer resistance in this quarter-final clash, toppling Littler looks a bridge too far for the Welshman. There was more than a slice of good fortune about Clayton’s win over Searle, as he found himself 3-1 down before battling back to take top honours. The Welsh number 1 posted a slightly lower average than that of Searle and was soundly beaten 6-1 on the 180 count.

The final quarter-final clash of the afternoon between Dimitri van den Bergh and Nathan Aspinall looks a tough one to call. The ‘Dreammaker’ brushed aside Gary Anderson in round 1 before delivering a sensational 9-darter in his second round success over Michael van Gerwen. As for Aspinall, he has produced a pair of impressive displays to get past Andrew Gilding and Cameron Menzies.

Given that this could be a tie of fine margins, it makes sense to side with over 5.5 sets. This is unlikely to be a landslide victory for either, with both players are more than capable of claiming at least a couple of sets in what will be another race to 4.

Van den Bergh’s clash with van Gerwen on Saturday night had to be settled over 7 sets and there is plenty of scope for a repeat here. The 2 players have claimed 3 wins apiece across their previous 6 meetings, and there was very little to separate the pair in all bar 1 of those contests. Both will fancy their chances of progressing to the semi-final and a minimum of 6 sets should be well within range in a potential thriller.