Matchplay

“[The crowd] got their money’s worth. I think they wanted 15-all but that last leg, I just had to stay focused,” he told Sky Sports.

“I didn’t really panic. Leg by leg, Andrew started to win a few on the trot, but on the last leg, against the darts, I just had to get over the line.

“He played his part, it’s very tough. Andrew never goes out of rhythm, he’s the same throw by throw. I just had to find a rhythm to match him.”

Littler teased there would be “fireworks” in the fourth quarter-final and Rock delivered.

Both the 24-year-old (104.02) and Price (100.21) averaged above 100, but it was Rock who seized the moment, winning three consecutive legs to open up an 11-8 lead and then extending his advantage to 13-9.

Price rallied to make it 13-11, but Rock – who beat three-time champion Michael van Gerwen in round two – closed out the match in style, winning the last three legs and producing a checkout of 164 in the final one.

“I’m on cloud nine at the minute. What a game,” Rock told on Sky Sports.

“I was just like, ‘Josh, you’re doing nothing wrong, you’re playing your own game, happy days’. The form Gerwyn’s in, you know what to expect.

“Littler’s one of my closest friends behind the scenes. I hope we both turn up. Hopefully it will be a cracking game.”

The semi-finals will take place on Saturday evening with England’s James Wade facing Jonny Clayton of Wales, before Littler’s meeting with Rock.

“I played all right there,” Clayton told Sky Sports. “Total respect to Stephen, he didn’t play his best game but I kept him under pressure at times. I played well.”

Earlier in the evening, Wade found himself 4-1 down to Van Veen, despite dominating almost every leg as poor finishing cost him.

But the Englishman came out with renewed determination after the break and won the next eight legs on the spin to take control.

Although Van Veen closed the gap and finished the match with the better average – 99.24 to 96.35 – and a better checkout percentage, Wade did enough to see it through.

“I thought I’d thrown it away,” the 42-year-old told Sky Sports. “Towards the end, he was coming back and it was God’s gift to me, not my ability [that secured the win].

“I had a very stern word with myself [after the first session], I was disgusted. You do what you need to do.

“I’m lucky he didn’t make the most of his opportunities. But then if I’d made the most of mine, I’d have been 5-0 or 10-0 up. I’m proper buzzing.”

The third and fourth quarter-finals take place at Winter Gardens on Friday evening with world champion Luke Littler facing Andrew Gilding, while Wales’ Gerwyn Price takes on Josh Rock of Northern Ireland.

Luke Littler survived a real scare before fighting back to beat Jermaine Wattimena 13-11 in a thriller to reach the World Matchplay quarter-finals in Blackpool, but three-time champion Michael van Gerwen is out after defeat to Josh Rock.

World champion Littler looked out of sorts at Winter Gardens as he slipped 4-0 and then 7-2 behind against Dutchman Wattimena.

After pulling one leg back immediately before the second break, a clearly fired up Littler let out a roar of delight and gestured to the crowd that he was not going home just yet.

Littler returned from the break reinvigorated, winning six legs in a row, but Wattimena rediscovered his composure and the two players traded blows to send the game to a tie break

Littler missed two match darts as the nerves began to show, but after making the third he once again roared in celebration and pointed to the star on his shirt, which signifies his World Championship victory.

“When I pointed to the star on my shirt, I’m a world champion for a reason, I find these gears when I need it,” Littler told Sky Sports.

“I’ve not felt pressure like that since the first round of the World Championship. I was a bit nervous and it’s on to my third game here, I’ve won two of them.

“I want to get back on stage and right now I can’t wait to be in the quarter-final.”

Van Gerwen made a flying start against Northern Ireland’s Rock, taking the opening leg with a 150 checkout before surging into a 5-1 lead.

Rock narrowed the game to 6-4 at the second break only for Van Gerwen to move into a 9-6 lead and seemingly on the brink of victory.

But Rock fought back again and the momentum to swung in his favour when a superb 152 checkout cut Van Gerwen’s lead down to one, before winning the next two legs to take the lead for the first time.

Van Gerwen needed a 138 checkout to stay in the game and make it 10-10, but Rock held his nerve in a tense tie break.

“I kept my emotions, I think, throughout the game. I don’t know what was going on but I got into the game at the end,” he told Sky Sports.

“One of the most dramatic, my heart was pumping throughout the whole game. The stress has finally gone. What a game.”

Gerwyn Price stormed into the quarter-finals with an 11-3 thrashing of England’s Chris Dobey,

Welshman Price, who was involved in an angry confrontation with Daryl Gurney in the previous round, averaged 108.7, hit eight 180s and had a 146 checkout in a dominant performance.

“It was fantastic. In the middle part of the game I felt like I couldn’t miss,” he told Sky Sports. “I put Chris under a lot of pressure. I think he still played pretty decent in patches.

“I think early on we were both flying and I was just pipping him on a couple of legs, probably disheartened him a little bit. It’s a good game for me.”

Andrew Gilding set up a meeting with Littler after the former UK Open champion beat Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode 11-5 to reach the last eight of the World Matchplay for the second successive year.

World champion Luke Littler eased into the second round of the World Matchplay in Blackpool with a comfortable 10-2 win over Ryan Searle.

The 18-year-old’s maiden appearance at the Winter Gardens last year had resulted in a first-round defeat by Michael van Gerwen and he was keen to amends this time around.

He was too good for Searle from the outset, winning the first four legs with only 48 darts and he finished with a superb average of 108.92 and 52.6% on his checkouts.

The world number 19 had no answer to the onslaught from Littler who avoided the fate that befell world number one Luke Humphries who was beaten in his opening match on Saturday.

“I felt very comfortable out there,” Littler told Sky Sports. “I was well up for tonight and I’m just so glad to get that win and that winning feeling.

“As people know, I’m not a practiser, but I’ve been practising for this one and putting in more time at home. I’m glad it has paid off and I can’t wait to come back for the next game.”

Littler’s opponent in the last 16 will be Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena who beat 2021 champion Peter Wright 10-8.

Rob Cross, the 2019 winner also bowed out after a 10-8 loss to Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode but the 2018 champion Gary Anderson beat Luke Woodhouse 10-5 to advance.

World number one and defending champion Luke Humphries suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the World Matchplay in Blackpool.

Humphries lost 10-8 to world youth champion Gian van Veen at the Winter Gardens with the 23-year-old Dutchman describing it as “the biggest win of my career”.

Humphries, who lifted the title 12 months ago after beating Michael van Gerwen, had been aiming to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back titles.

But Van Veen, who had six match darts before being beaten in a sudden-death leg on his debut last year by Rob Cross, started strongly, winning the opening two legs of the best-of-19-leg encounter.

And although Humphries took the next three, the 30-year-old struggled with his doubles throughout.

Van Veen edged 5-3 ahead only for Humphries to hit back again and go 7-6 up but a tense 15th leg won by Van Veen saw him take a key 8-7 advantage and, despite seeing a couple of match darts come and go in leg 17 to bring back memories of 12 months ago, he sealed the win in the next leg.

“To beat such a phenomenal player like Luke, I am over the moon,” Van Veen told Sky Sports. “He is a great champion and a great guy.

“At 6-6 and 7-7, I felt the pressure but I was happy I could keep up. Luke missed some chances but I took mine and it means so much.”

Van Veen’s reward is a meeting with compatriot Danny Noppert, who had a comfortable 10-2 win over Scottish debutant Cameron Menzies.

Earlier, former champion James Wade came through 10-3 against Joe Cullen.