Luke Littler emerged victorious in his bid for his first World Darts Championship title after overcoming a tough test against Ryan Meikle at Alexandra Palace.
Last year’s runner-up recovered from a slow start to dominate the final stages of the contest and wrapped up a 3-1 win to book a third round meeting with either Ritchie Edhouse or Ian White after Christmas.
Littler needed a top-notch finish to win the first set in the final leg decider, but then saw Meikle win the second set to level the contest. The 17-year-old responded to another breakdown in the third set to close it out. before.
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Littler’s 100 checkout saw him take the opening set against Meikle.
The reigning Premier League champion was at his brilliant best in the one-sided fourth set, opening with 11 darters before firing eight perfect darts to dismantle Meikle in the next leg.
He missed D12 in 9 darts but rounded out the win with another 11 darts in the next match. Littler was visibly emotional after firing 140.91, the highest set average in World Darts Championship history. Here he needed just 32 darts. Win all three shots.
How Littler Survived the Horror of Ally Pally
Littler received a great welcome from Alexandra Palace but struggled in the opening leg, holding on despite Meikle missing five darts in a double, and the pair exchanged 13 darts during a tight start.
Meikle squandered two sets of darts, allowing Littler to fall back, then fired five perfect darts to take the decider, completing a checkout of 100 in a showboat finish, but the unseeded player won the second leg. They bounced back by winning the first two legs. .
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Littler took to the stage for the first time at this year’s World Darts Championships.
The fourth seed produced a 15-dart hold before Meikle closed out the set, and both players traded breaks at the start of the third before Littler won the next two seeds and moved to a 2-1 lead to take complete control of the contest. .
Meikle’s hopes were quickly dashed when Littler started with back-to-back 180s on his way to an 11-darter. ‘The Nuke’ fired a second nine-darter, coming agonizingly close to matching Christian Kist’s effort earlier this week. tournament.
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Littler produced some incredible darts and beat Meikle 3-1 to advance to the third round.
Littler signed in emphatic style in the next game, taking out a D6 for the 10-dart leg, and admitted in the post-match press conference that completing the win was “one of the hardest things” he had played in his young career.
“It was probably the first and biggest time that that (pressure) came to me.” Littler He told Sky Sports: “The first night in the Premier League, against Luke Humphries, I was nervous, but throughout the year, on the European tour and every major tournament I played, I was fine.”
“I got here and it was fine. As soon as George Noble said ‘game on,’ I was like – I couldn’t throw.”
Littler added: “(The pressure) was a lot to handle, but like I said, it went okay. As soon as George said, ‘Game on,’ I couldn’t do it. I shouldn’t have won the first set, but I did. And After the second break, you have to cross the line.”
Van Barneveld was shocked as the seed collapsed.
Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was eliminated after suffering a 3-1 defeat. Nick KennyCompatriot Danny Noppert also suffered an early exit by the same margin. ryan joyce.
Van Barneveld saw his walk-on sing twice on stage, with the Dutchman breaking in the opening leg and losing a poor first set, despite Kenny wasting seven set darts with a double.
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Raymond van Barneveld saw his famous ‘Eye of the Tiger’ entrance ruined by another song!
The Welshman won the next two legs to put further pressure on Van Barneveld, who fired a 15-darter and a 13-darter before losing the final leg decider to drop two sets and silence the partisan Alexandra Palace crowd. .
Van Barneveld rebounded to take the third set and survived two match darts to take the fourth set to a final leg decider. Kenny missed six more looks at doubles before wrapping up the win at double 2 to set up a meeting with Luke Humphries after Christmas. .
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Nick Kenny beat Van Barneveld to reach the third round of the World Darts Championship.
Noppert looked to have the opener under control as he approached a second-set cushion, but Joyce leveled the match with a 15-darter and then followed up with a 124 checkout with a 12-darter leg in the third set. They are ahead 2-1.
The tight contest came close to a decider when Noppert moved to a 2-leg advantage in the fourth set, but Joyce held a draw in the next set and wrapped up the famous win with 13 straight darters.
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Ryan Joyce scored 124 points in the third set against Danny Noppert to take the lead.
More bold drama unfolded in the final match of the evening. Damon Heta came back from a set down to produce a more than four-ton finish and threaten a perfect finish to secure a 3-1 win over Connor Scutt.
Heta, like Littler earlier in the evening, found eight perfect darts before missing D12 for a nine-darter, and the Australian wasted five more match darts on the same number before eventually finding the double he needed.
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Damon Heta recorded a more than four-ton finish in his comfortable win over Connor Scutt in round two.
Dobey and Dolan reserve their spots in the next round
Seen in the afternoon session Brendan Dolan After coming off a straight-set win over Lok Yin Lee, he set up a huge three-round clash with Michael van Gerwen, ranked 15th in the world. Chris Dovey They held off Alexander Merkx’s counterattack and won 3-1, advancing to the round of 32.
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Chris Dobey shot 122 in his second round match against Alexander Merkx at the World Darts Championship.
Dolan made 106 to get through a tight opening set in the final leg decider and breezed through the second set. The Northern Irishman fired a 13-dart and a 14-dart leg in the third set to take his lead to an average of 113, extending his streak to 17. A look at the World Championships.
Dobey dominated the contest, winning six of the first seven legs to take a two-set advantage, but saw Merkx claim a clean sweep in the third set and break the Briton in the fourth.
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Dobey said his 122 payment was huge.
The Merkx run ended with an incredible 122 checkout from Dobey. Dobey held on to the draw in the next leg and then fired back-to-back 180s en route to a 12-darter to secure another impressive win.
He made his debut in the opening match that day. Reese Griffin Beating Karel Sedlacek in straight sets while also booking a second round meeting with Josh Rock. Alexis Toilo He also had a huge win on his debut and will now play Krzysztof Ratajski after a shock 3-0 success over Richard Veenstra.
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Alexis Toylo cruised to a first-round victory at the World Darts Championship, but it was his pre-darts routine that had everyone talking.
What’s next?
There are eight more second round matches on Sunday, with European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse headlining the afternoon session against Ian White and Joe Cullen taking on Wessel Nijman.
Ryan Searle faces Matt Campbell in today’s opening match, while Dirk van Duijvenbode plays Madars Razma before former world champion Gary Anderson opens the tournament against Jeffrey de Graaf in the evening session.
UK Open winner Dimitri Van den Bergh takes on Dylan Slevin in the evening session starting at 7pm, while Martin Schindler takes on Callan Rydz and Ross Smith entertains Paolo Nebrida.
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.
