Luke Littler advanced to the fourth round of the World Darts Championship after overcoming another tough test to beat Ian White 4-1 at Alexandra Palace.
The pre-tournament favorite battled through a tight opening set but lost the second set to White. White missed a dart to win three of the first four sets and threatened a famous comeback against the fourth seed.
Littler got through the third set in just 39 darts and punished White’s missed set darts to finish the fourth set with a 70 checkout before beating White in the next set to close out the win by 14 darts.
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Littler beat White with great legs, and he finished with an 88-point checkout in the bullseye.
Littler averaged 97.84 and scored as many as 12 against White, with the 17-year-old avoiding a repeat of the emotion shown in his second-round win over Ryan Meikle and booking a last-16 meeting with Ryan Joyce on Monday.
Michael van Gerwen also secured his place in the fourth round by coming back from a set down to beat Brendan Dolan 4-2, while Chris Dobey also came through after defeating Josh Rock by the same margin.
How Littler Passed the White Test
Littler started with a sloppy 20-dart hold, but White followed suit when he doubled down on five missed darts to break him. That was when ‘Diamond’ missed a set dart at the top before Littler snatched the opener for 12 darts in the final. Leg decider.
Luke Littler converted just 13 of his 37 opportunities into doubles against White.
The pair traded several throw breaks in another cage second. Littler produced a 114 checkout before White leveled the next leg against a dart, but the momentum shifted back Littler’s way in the third.
Littler completed a dominant third set following the 13 and 14 dart legs by pinning the bullseye for an 88 checkout, before ‘Nuke’ capitalized on another missed set dart from White in the final leg of the fourth to check out 70. I opened in search of an out. 2 sets of buffers.
The teenager went on to miss doubles in the fifth set, raising White’s hopes of extending the match, before threatening to close out the win with the ‘Big Fish’ demolishing his opponent by 25.
“It was hard,” Littler said. Sky Sports. “Ian threw everything at me. I had to keep switching on because when I hit 180, he countered with 180. It was a case of adapting quickly. The first set was okay, but after the first break I was really like that.
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Luke Littler comments on his struggles to reach double 10 and double 20 in his match against Ian White.
“I don’t think D10 liked me tonight and I didn’t like them either! I thought about switching to D18 or D16, but I stuck to the doubles I knew and D10 took me home.”
MVG sees Dolan off as Dobey marches off.
Van Gerwen came on course to take the opening set when he claimed a draw break in the third leg, but Dolan fired 15 darters in a row, including a bullseye finish of 86, to take a shock lead.
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Michael van Gerwen produced a vintage display as he hit a 129 checkout to beat Brendan Dolan and clinch the second set.
The Dutchman got through a poor 21-dart leg despite missing seven darts at the double, but finished the second leg emphatically in the next leg, quickly taking control of the contest after attempting a checkout of 129 for a 12-dart break. .
Van Gerwen won the next two sets in straight legs, winning eight straight legs, including a brilliant 149 checkout at the start of the fourth, but Dolan took advantage of the three-time world champion’s erratic finishing to break and earn the set. I’m back for the fifth time.
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Van Gerwen recorded a 149 checkout in the opening leg of the third set against Dolan.
Dolan recorded a brilliant 123 checkout at the bullseye and missed a dart in the next leg to take the contest to a final set decider. Van Gerwen survived the throw and secured his place in the next round.
“It was really tough. It was a really difficult game.” Van Gerwen told Sky Sports. “I tried to punish him at the right moment, but I couldn’t. I can only blame myself. I’m so glad D8 went in at the end.”
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Van Gerwen said it had been a difficult year and there was still a lot of work to be done.
The opening match of the evening was also a close contest at 2-1 with Dobey taking a 4-2 win over Rock and booking a last 16 meeting with either Kevin Doets or Krzysztof Ratajski.
Dobey responded to the loss of the third set by cruising through the fourth set at straight leg and then sealed victory with a brilliant double-double finish on checkouts of the 19th and 96th after Rock missed a fifth set dart and survived to beat the final leg decider. I did it. .
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After Josh Rock put the pressure on with a third-round tie at 180, Chris Dobey came back for the win with a double-double finish.
Afternoon Recap: Aspinall advances to round of 16
Nathan Aspinall Defeated Andrew Gilding in straight sets to advance to the round of 16 for the first time in five years. Ricardo Pietrecko On Monday.
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During the match between Nathan Aspinall and Andrew Gilding, Asp was slightly distracted by the Alexandra Palace crowd as he briefly stopped play to watch Ally Pally’s antics.
Aspinall broke Gilding twice in the opening set and then won the next two through the final leg decider to round off an impressive win. Here he averaged 92.17 and was clinical in doubles. He took the top spot in 14 darts. break down
“I’m glad I was able to finish,” Aspinall said. sky sports. “Usually I don’t finish well and that’s why I lose. Usually I don’t score. The last two games I’ve played, I’ve finished really well, not good scores.”
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Nathan Aspinall blew the roof off Alexandra Palace as he brought the crowd to their feet as a walk-on for his match against Andrew Gilding at the 2025 World Darts Championship.
Pietreczko continued his impressive World Championship run by outpointing last year’s semi-finalist Scott Williams, winning the first two sets and racing the fourth to straight legs before finishing off a 4-1 win with a stunning 121 checkout at the bullseye.
The other match of the session went to a final set decider, with Joyce advancing to the fourth round for the first time since 2019 after squandering a two-set lead against Ryan Searle.
“It was a really tough game,” said Joyce. sky sports. “I tried everything to get through in the end and was so happy I was able to find something in the tank in the last set.”
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Ryan Joyce advanced to the fourth round with a 4-3 win against a comeback from Ryan Searle. Joyce also recorded an impressive 113 checkout while Searle suffered a hiccup in the final set as she missed just one 20 to leave her on top.
What happens next?
The third round ends on Sunday. The afternoon session was headlined by Dimitri van den Bergh against Callan Rydz, Kevin Doets against Krzysztof Ratajski and Jeffrey de Graff against Paolo Nebrida at 12.30pm.
Ricky Evans opens the evening session from 7pm in the final round of 32 of the tournament when he takes on Robert Owen, before Round 4 begins later that evening with an all-Wales clash between Jonny Clayton and former world champion Gerwyn Price.
Defending champion Luke Humphries faces a two-time world champion in the final match of the night. The remaining six fourth-round matches will be played on Monday, followed by the quarter-finals over two sessions on New Year’s Day.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and other top sports with NOW.
