World champion Luke Littler has survived a scare to set up a blockbuster quarter-final with the hosts' top thrower Damon Heta at the Australian Darts Masters in Wollongong.
Australian No.1 Heta was inspired on his homecoming, proving the star of the night as he averaged 109.98 and landed four ton-plus check-outs to dispatch Melbourne veteran James Bailey in six straight legs at the star-studded event on Friday.
It earned him a mouth-watering last-eight clash with the English teenage phenomenon Littler, who was far from his best as he had to survive being taken to the last leg by New Zealand's world No.94 Haupai Puha before emerging with a 6-5 victory.
Littler averaged only 91.8 and will need to improve drastically if he's to get past world no.10 Heta, who was in dazzling form from the start at the WIN Entertainment Centre, kicking off with successive 121 finishes, while also taking out 117 and 104 en route to his 6-0 win.
"I just want to perform, so to do that in front of my friends and family, loved it," said Heta, the 37-year-old from Perth who's known as 'the Heat' on the PDC circuit.
"I'm forever grateful that I can come home and get this support, and hopefully I can build on that performance tomorrow."
Littler, fresh from his triumph at the World Matchplay in England, blamed his sluggish performance on jet-lag.
"It's not always the prettiest, but I am happy to get over the line," said the 18-year-old.
"I had to grind it out, I'll be honest, not much practice has been put in, people don't see behind the scenes, body clock, not sleeping, it has an effect."
Friday's opening round featured eight of the world's best players, including Heta, up against the cream of Australian and New Zealand darts, with the PDC stars emerging with a clean sweep.
Indeed, Littler was the closest of all to losing as Puha had a glorious chance to prevail when throwing first in the deciding leg.
Northern Irishman Josh Rock, who was beaten in the Matchplay semi-final by Littler, was almost as impressive as Heta as he averaged 108.16 while thumping Australian darts icon, "the wizard of Oz" Simon Whitlock 6-1.
England's world No.1 Luke Humphries also got through to Saturday's finals day, after beating New Zealand's Jonny Tata 6-3, while Welsh defending champion Gerwyn Price beat Western Australian Joe Comito 6-3.
Results at the Australian Darts Masters:
First round:
Mike De Decker (Belgium) 6-2 Brandon Weening (Australia)
Gerwyn Price (Wales) 6-3 Joe Comito (Australia)
Stephen Bunting (England) 6-1 Brody Klinge (Australia)
Luke Humphries (England) 6-3 Jonny Tata (New Zealand)
Damon Heta (Australia) 6-0 James Bailey (Australia)
Luke Littler (England) 6-5 Haupai Puha (New Zealand)
Josh Rock (Northern Ireland) 6-1 Simon Whitlock (Australia)
Chris Dobey (England) 6-4 Tim Pusey (Australia)
Saturday's quarter-final draw:
Bunting v Rock
Littler v Heta
Price v Dobey
Humphries v De Decker
