Though Christmas and New Year have come and gone, the celebrations continued for 16-year-old Luke Littler after he breezed into the semi-finals of the World Darts Championship following an impressive 5-1 victory over Northern Ireland’s Brendan Dolan.
Littler, now the youngest ever semi-finalist at the World Championship, started slowly and lost the opening two legs with the throw to be pushed firmly on the back foot. The teenager quickly found his rhythm though and fought back from two legs down to clinch the first set 3-2 with enough time to play up to the crowd.
That confidence remained throughout the match as Littler repeatedly set up finishes of 170 in an attempt to land the biggest possible checkout. He swept the second set 3-0 before quickly holding serve to leave the Northern Irishman shaken. Two more breaks of throw in the fourth set meant that Dolan had only held throw three times in the match with Littler one set away from victory.
The response was solid from Dolan who took advantage of Littler’s wayward attempts to hit a double, he missed eight shots across two legs, to clinch a set of his own. Littler had the last laugh though with another clean sweep in the sixth to earn him a 5-1 win. It is a new year but the same brilliance from the precocious Littler, who is on the cusp of producing one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.
A semi-final against 2018 winner Rob Cross is next up before a likely meeting with Michael van Gerwen in the final, but Littler is a genuine contender to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy on Wednesday.
The debutant has already proven he is ready to compete on the biggest stage after taking out UK Open winner Andrew Gilding and his hero Raymond van Barneveld on his way to the last eight and he maintained that form against Dolan.
The Northern Irishman had beaten former world champions Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson but could not live with Littler, who finished with an average of 101.93 to thrill his adoring fans inside Ally Pally.
This performance will only heighten Littler’s celebrity status. His exploits have already transcended the world of darts, with the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) coming under increasing pressure to hand him a place in the forthcoming Premier League.
He warmed up for his match by sharing a box at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with England international James Maddison to watch Spurs’ Premier League match with Bournemouth on Sunday, while he has had pictures and exchanged messages with a host of other top footballers.
Brendan Dolan became Littler’s latest defeated opponent at Alexandra Palace— (PA)
But it is his darts that continue to do the talking and he was in complete command again on Monday. Dolan took out 101 in the opening leg to break Littler’s throw, but from then on it was one-way traffic.
Littler went about his business in his usual manner and eased into a 4-0 lead. A whitewash was on the cards, but Dolan took out 118 to finally get on the board.
It was just a stay of execution, though, as Littler came back to see out a memorable win.
The 2018 champion Cross produced one of the most memorable Alexandra Palace comebacks. Cross looked dead and buried when he was 4-0 down after barely 45 minutes as Chris Dobey played one of the matches of his life. However, the off-stage break worked wonders for Cross as the former electrician sparked into life. He reeled off four sets of his own and then took out 130 to seal a famous win.
But Cross knows he will have to improve if he is to stop the Littler train.
“Everyone loves an underdog story,” he said. “As the public and people looking at the game, everyone loves an underdog story. I am not being rude, I am on his side, I love an underdog story.
“It took a bit of pressure off me winning it first time as well. He’s fantastic and he deserves all the luck in the world, he is a nice young boy. Tomorrow we play darts, though, and I have to go down to business.”
Later in the evening, Michael van Gerwen’s hunt for another world title came to an abrupt end as he was beaten 5-3 by Scott Williams in a result that blows the tournament wide open. Van Gerwen was the favourite to win the tournament but that honour now passes to Luke Humphries.
After two difficult matches in the previous rounds, the No. 3 seed displayed his full quality by defeat Dave Chisnall 5-1 in the evening’s final match. Humphries now faces Williams in the last four and will look to repeat his performance on Tuesday night.
“I just knocked the best player in the world out,” Williams told Sky Sports after the match, “He wasn’t the Michael van Gerwen we’ve seen over the last couple of games but that’s not my problem. I hit the doubles and probably should have won it a little bit easier. I’m absolutely loving it up there. I love a crowd.”
