LUKE LITTLER STRUGGLED to hit top form but still did enough to ease into the last 16 of the World Darts Championship with a 4-1 win over Ian White at Alexandra Palace.
The 17-year-old survived a series of errant doubles and had set darts against him in the first and fourth sets before finding his range when it mattered to sink his veteran opponent.
Littler, who averaged just under 98 for the match, told Sky Sports: “It was tough, Ian threw everything at me and I had to stay switched on.
“It was just a case of settling into it. I know what’s gone wrong tonight, the doubles, but most importantly, I’ve won.”
Littler almost suffered an early shock when White missed a dart for the first set, before more uncharacteristically loose doubles let the 54-year-old level the match at 1-1.
Littler looked to have stirred when he rounded off a much more impressive third set with a shot at bull, but he gifted White another set dart in the fourth before crucially snatching the set and moving on to complete his victory.
Littler will face Ryan Joyce in the last 16 after Joyce edged a nail-biting 4-3 win over Ryan Searle in the final match of the afternoon session.
At 3-2 down in the final set, Searle missed a single 20 to set up a dart at tops that would have tied the set at 3-3, and Joyce duly finished the job to earn his place in round four for the first time since 2019.
Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen admitted he has plenty more to give after chiselling out a 4-2 win over last year’s quarter-finalist Brendan Dolan.
Van Gerwen, who is chasing his first title since 2019, charged through eight consecutive legs to seize control of the match at 3-1 but somewhat fell over the line after dropping a scrappy fifth set to the dogged Northern Irishman.
Van Gerwen told Sky Sports: “It was a really difficult game. Everyone knows Brendan doesn’t give up, and I tried to punish him at the right moments and wasn’t capable of doing that.
“After 1-1 I think I played some really good sets but I let it slip away with a few things. There’s still a lot of work to do, but I know I’m capable of doing it.”
Chris Dobey twice came from behind to beat Josh Rock 4-2 and move one win away from his third consecutive world quarter-final.
The exits of Dolan and Rock ended Irish interest in this championship.
Darts Ronnie o Sullivan
@Gary Galligan: can throw equally well with both hands? Or can put up score of 147 in 5 mins?
What an athlete
@Joe Beirne: He is more of an athlete than u will ever be
@Raymond Darcy: if that’s your idea of an athlete Ray I’d hate to see what state you are in. I actually didn’t play pub games in my youth, was too busy playing highest level of schoolboy football
@Joe Beirne:
Wanky comment
He’s a nightmare for the spotters because he is so unorthodox the way he plays. He could just get a notion and go for treble 18s for no other reason than he just can. Some player