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Luke Humphries says he must improve if he is to challenge for a second World Grand Prix title and admits he would have preferred defending champion Luke Littler to have avoided an early exit.
Humphries - the 2023 champion and a runner-up the last two editions of the double-start major - produced a lacklustre performance during his straight-sets victory over Dave Chisnall at the Mattioli Arena.
The world No 2 hit under 27 per cent of his checkout attempts and averaged 80.41, his lowest in the tournament since 2022, although was relieved to avoid joining Littler and Michael van Gerwen in being beaten in the first round.
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"That's arguably one of the worst performances I've played on the World Grand Prix stage for myself," Humphries said after the victory. "I didn't feel comfortable throughout the whole game.
"Doubles weren't going in at the start, the scoring was rubbish and I felt like Chizzy [Dave Chisnall] just wasn't at his best there at all."
"It wasn't a good performance, but I'm through and when I play Jermaine [Wattimena] on Thursday I'm hoping you won't see that!"
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Humphries is now the favourite to lift the trophy following defending champion Luke Littler's shock defeat to Luke Woodhouse, but admits he feels added pressure with the world No 1 no longer in the field as a title contender.
"I hate it when he loses because it always puts the pressure on myself and then everyone is like 'this is yours to win' and all this type of stuff," Humphries added.
"I hate it when he loses because I want to play him in finals. I want to beat him in finals. I don't want to lose to him in finals, but I like playing in finals because it gets me up for it.
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"When he loses, I'm not like jumping for joy. It puts all the pressure on myself and maybe sometimes it doesn't help me.
"I'd rather him still be in the tournament and be the favourite and then I can just backdoor it to the final!"
Humphries' 2023 win was his maiden PDC-ranked TV title and sparked a dominant run to end the season, but 'Cool Hand' has since suffered a string of runner-up finishes in major tournaments following his World Masters and Premier League triumphs last year.
"I feel like I deserve a major - it's been like six or seven I've lost in the final," Humphries explained. "I played really good in the Premier League final and the World Masters final - I played 105 averages and lost, so they are tough to take.
"If you just play anybody else in the world they're probably not going to beat you, but when you're playing a phenom like Luke [Littler], he can beat you. I feel like I deserve one, but sometimes you don't always get what you deserve in life.
"It's up to me to win another four games and perform a lot better than that, because if I perform that again, I'll be very lucky to make it to the quarters and semis."
Humphries explains face 'injury': 'I don't have that great story!'
The former world champion sparked confusion on social media after taking to the stage with a noticeable scab on his head, but felt no ill-effects from it as he progressed to the last 16.
"I really wanted to bring up some amazing story about how I fought five guys off and they come off worse than me, but unfortunately I don't have that great story," Humphries said.
"I did Bullseye filming on Tuesday, woke up Wednesday with a massive rash on the side of my head and it just got worse and worse and then it scabbed over.
"The only thing I can think of is when you do TV shows they put make up on and all these types of things, all these creams, and I got an allergic reaction to it.
"Unfortunately there is no great story to tell, that is what I think it is but I don't know. I haven't seen a doctor but it just looks like I've had an allergic reaction to stuff they've put on my head and face, but I'm fully well."
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