Littler

Luke Littler’s World Matchplay title defence continued with a straightforward 16-7 quarter-final win over Josh Rock in Blackpool.

Rock initially kept pace with the world number one as the players traded breaks to reach 5-5.

But after 19-year-old Littler reeled off five legs in a row, there proved to be no way back for Rock as the defending champion, in dazzling form, cruised into the semi-finals.

After throwing 17 180s with a scoring average of 109.57, Littler said: “At the minute, everything’s going to plan.”

The teenager added: “I feel good. I can afford to miss a few doubles because the scoring’s there.

“Once again another brilliant performance, but fair play to Josh, he put up a good fight.”

Littler will play unseeded Dirk van Duijvenbode of the Netherlands in Saturday’s semi-final.

Earlier on Thursday evening, tournament outsider Van Duijvenbode survived a late surge by Gary Anderson to reach his first Matchplay semi-final.

Anderson, the 2018 World Matchplay champion, threatened to close an eight-leg deficit with a fine late display including a 154 checkout, but Van Duijvenbode held on for a 16-13 win.

Reflecting on his second-round tie-break win over Michael van Gerwen, Van Duijvenbode had said that shaking “like a little child crying for his mum” allowed his compatriot back into match after leading 8-4.

After leading 8-4 again on Thursday, Van Duijvenbode dropped two consecutive legs but then stormed into a 14-6 lead by winning the next six without reply.

However, it would be a further nine legs until Van Duijvenbode won the tie as a resurgent Anderson pushed him hard.

World number one Luke Littler threw a thrilling nine-darter as he booked his place in the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay with a 11-8 win over Nathan Aspinall.

Littler began the contest at Winter Gardens in Blackpool in sensational fashion with a perfect leg, finishing on double 15.

The Warrington teenager cupped his ears to lap up the adulation of a delirious crowd while fellow Englishman Aspinall laughed in disbelief before he gave Littler a high five.

Excitement levels were raised further in the fourth leg when Littler had double 15 remaining for a second nine-darter, only for his arrow to land just the wrong side of the wire.

Aspinall turned to the crowd and jokingly offered up his darts to see if anyone else wanted to give the 19-year-old a game.

He refused to allow Littler to pull away, though, and managed to haul himself back on terms at 7-7 only for the defending champion to reel off the next three legs.

Aspinall briefly rallied again but when he missed tops in the 19th leg, Littler was able to checkout 52 as he sealed victory with an incredible 113.68 average – the second highest in the tournament’s history – featuring a total of 14 180s.

“The nine-darter just happened. These guys [the crowd] were booing me at the beginning and then they started cheering me on!” Littler told Sky Sports.

“It felt amazing and that was probably the best game Nathan and I have played against each other – it’s never over against Nathan because he never gives up.

“That’s two unbelievable performances from myself here. Hopefully I can pick up the title again, but I just have to focus on who I play next.”

Littler will play the winner of the final second-round match on Tuesday between Josh Rock and Stephen Bunting.

Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen’s campaign ended as he suffered a 14-12 defeat to fellow Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Van Gerwen had battled back from 8-4 down to level the match at 10-all but Van Duijvenbode closed out the contest.

Scotland’s Gary Anderson also progressed to the last eight with an 11-7 win over Welshman Jonny Clayton.

England won the World Cup of Darts for a record-extending sixth time as Luke Littler and Luke Humphries overcame the Netherlands 10-5 in Frankfurt.

The top seeds defeated Wales and Scotland earlier on Sunday to set up a tantalising best-of-19-legs final against second seeds Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen.

Littler and Humphries’ shock second-round exit to hosts Germany last year cast doubt over the partnership, but they averaged more than 104 and hit 15 finishes over 140+ to overpower the Dutch.

“I’m absolutely delighted – that’s the best we have played all tournament,” Littler told Sky Sports.

“That’s what we needed to do. We can’t do it every game, its hard. There have been challenges but we got the job done.

“We didn’t do anything wrong last year, we just came up against a better team. This year we had to win together, not on our own.

“I’m proud of us – we won together.”

The world’s top four players produced a tight contest early on that stayed with throw until Littler found double 10 to break just before the first interval.

England held after the break before Humphries took out 87 to break once more and establish a three-leg lead.

From that point on the Premier League champion and runner-up did not look like surrendering their lead – Littler hit tops to extend the advantage to 6-2 as England’s average crept up to 114, though Van Veen hit back with a timely maximum as the Dutch held with a 14-dart leg.

Humphries recovered from a slight wobble – his failed set-up left Littler needing and missing a bullseye to break – to hit double four to put the duo 7-3 up going into the second break.

The Dutch were handed a lifeline when Littler failed to take out 78, affording Van Veen a 64 checkout to cut the deficit before Van Gerwen showed similar composure to stick with throw.

But they knew the game was up when after hitting a remarkable 174, Van Gerwen bust on an attempted eight checkout and England broke.

That led to England needing 41 to win, and Humphries secured the world title – his second and the first of Littler’s career – with nine, 16 and double eight.

“Michael [van Gerwen] was unbelievable tonight – he is back and playing unbelievable darts,” Humphries told Sky Sports.

“We knew we needed to take our chances. You give Holland any hope and they’ll take it away from you.

“We were a bit poor against Wales but we ran with the luck we had in that game.”

For the third year in a row, Littler finished top of the Premier League standings.

He went on to reach the final for the third consecutive year and has won the title in two of them.

He set a new record for night wins in the league phase in 2025 and matched that tally of six in 2026.

Despite that, Littler said he felt like he did not want to “go to the next Premier League night”.

He added: “Tonight was one of those wins where I had to get it done. Even sat at home, I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t want to go to the next Premier League night but we’ve done it.

“We’ve all got feelings, not just as dart players, we’re humans. I can’t believe I’ve won.”

The current Premier League format lasts 17 weeks if you reach finals night and sees players travel across the UK, Republic of Ireland and Europe to play every Thursday during the league phase.

The event only features eight players – the world’s four top-ranked players and four players who are invited by the Professional Darts Corporation – and runs alongside ProTour events.

Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle highlighted how former world champions Gerwyn Price and Phil Taylor have felt a similar strain to Littler in the past.

He said: “It is not a rarity for the Premier League to become too much. Week after week, it is an endurance test.

“Sometimes you can feel down and if you feel down, you become mentally weaker.

“We know how strong Luke Littler is mentally but when you are feeling like you’re public enemy number one, you can feel like you don’t want to turn up, but he did turn up and this is now the by-product of turning up.”

Despite coming close to leaving the competition, Littler’s dominance in the sport continues to grow.

His victory means he has added the Premier League to his World Championship title, World Masters and UK Open successes this year.

Littler holds seven of the eight ranking titles that the Professional Darts Corporation have, plus the Premier League.

“There is a point in everyone’s career when they are at their peak – we don’t know if this is his peak but we know this is peak level because Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor’s peak was this kind of standard,” added Mardle.

“We’re assuming he must be near his peak and it is good enough time and time again. There are no weaknesses really.”

Among the next things for Littler to tick off is glory alongside Luke Humphries for England in June’s World Cup of Darts.

If the pair play anything like they did in London on Thursday night, you wouldn’t bet against them.