Luke Littler narrowly avoided first round exit from the Winmau World Masters after surviving match darts with a dramatic win over Mike De Decker in Milton Keynes.
Littler has won six of the eight PDC major TV titles in the past 12 months, including a successful World Championship title defence, but suffered a major scare in his tournament opener at Arena MK.
The 19-year-old came close to an incredible 9-darter in a mixed contest. De Decker won in straight sets but missed a match dart for a 3-1 win before Littler struck back late.
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De Decker missed a match dart against Belgian Littler, who came very close to a 142 checkout.
With seven maximum hits and an average of 98.62, Littler defeated De Decker to take the contest to a deciding set, where he won both legs to complete a 3-2 win and set up a second-round meeting with Ross Smith.
Defending champions Luke Humphries and Josh Rock both came back from sets down to beat Dave Chisnall and Connor Scutt respectively, while Danny Noppert and Stephen Bunting also won by the same margin.
In the Masters thriller, Littler survives a great horror.
The world number one used a 13-dart hold to make an early statement and recovered from a missed set dart in the next set to take the opener in the deciding leg, but De Decker leveled the match with a stunning 121 from the bullseye.
Littler’s wayward finishing, which saw him convert just six of his 19 double attempts into doubles, allowed De Decker a break en route to taking the third set, with the Belgian grabbing a draw in the opening leg of the next set to go one leg away from a famous victory.
Littler and De Decker produced five set thrillers.
Littler went narrowly close to the first nine darts of the tournament, missing D15 after eight perfect darts and snatching the set in the next leg after De Decker wasted a match dart on D11 to make it 142.
De Decker never recovered from the missed opportunity. That’s because Littler won the next two legs in a tournament format where sets are played to the best of three legs to continue his pursuit of one of only two PDC TV majors missing from his CV.
“It was a tough one,” Littler said. ITV. “We just didn’t get there. Mike (De Decker) deserved to win the second and third sets. I had to fight back and that’s what I did.”
“I’m a little nervous because it’s 1-2 (legs per set) instead of 1-3. I got over the line and found some form and got the win.”
Littler and De Decker produced five set thrillers.
Humphreys title defense begins with a win
Humphries averaged 104.13 and crashed seven 180s in just 10 legs during his win over Chisnall, where he responded to wasting five sets of darts in the opener to take the next three sets.
The world number two made legs of 12 and 11 darts to get past Chisnall despite missing 13 of his 20 double attempts, and Humphries was aiming to improve with a finish when he faces Luke Woodhouse.
Luke Humphries will be hoping to become the first player since Michael van Gerwen to win back-to-back wins at this event.
“My scoring was top notch, but I need to work harder in doubles,” Humphries said. “It’s always great to be the defending champion in any tournament.
“I had good memories last year and I hope to make more memories this year. It’s an intense tournament. It will be a burden if I don’t play doubles, but I’m really happy that I finished well.”
Woodhouse averaged a dazzling 108.64 to finish Germany no. 1 Martin Schindler in straight sets, Noppert beat Daryl Gurney 3-1 and Bunting defeated Jeffrey de Graaf by the same score.
Stephen Bunting won the event in 2024 before the format changed.
Former world champion Rob Cross booked a last-16 clash with the Rock with a 3-1 win over world championship semi-finalist Ryan Searle, while Smith booked Saturday’s meeting with Littler after beating Dutch debutant Jimmy van Schie.
Winmau World Masters: Saturday Round 2 Schedule
Afternoon session (1300 GMT)
2 rounds x4
Best of 7 sets
Damon Heta v Chris Dovey
Gary Anderson v James Wade
Gian van Binh v Nathan Aspinall
Jonny Clayton v Gerwin Price
Evening session (1900 GMT)
2 rounds x4
Best of 7 sets
Rob Cross v Josh Rock
Stephen Bunting v Danny Noffert
Luke Littler v Ross Smith
Luke Humphries v Luke Woodhouse
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