Luke Littler recovered from a shaky start to power into the quarter-finals of the Bahrain Masters with some brilliant finishing.
Littler took the World Championships by storm over Christmas, the 16-year-old becoming front and back page news as he reached the final at Alexandra Palace.
Despite losing to Luke Humphries, Littler’s performances saw him fast-tracked to the top table of the sport and that included a place in the World Series event in Bahrain, where he faced Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung.
Littler looked certain to take the opening leg after his first 180 left him needing 84, but he amazingly missed seven darts at a double before Leung took out 107 to snatch the leg.
Leung also finished 83 on the bullseye to lead 2-0 before Littler kicked into top gear, the teenager taking out 151 and 136 in successive legs as he reeled off five in a row, despite missing eight darts at a double in leg seven.
Littler also hit treble 20, double 20 and double 10 for a somewhat unorthodox 120 checkout to seal a 6-3 win and set up a quarter-final with Nathan Aspinall.
Accompanied in Bahrain by his dad Anthony, Littler arrived in the Middle East fresh from a week’s family holiday and then tickets to watch Manchester United’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
“It’s been crazy,” said Littler, who is a huge United fan. “Warrington Wolves invited me down and I went to the United game and met Alex Ferguson.
“To meet him was amazing and he said some lovely things to me about staying dedicated and believing in myself. My life’s changed and my family’s life has changed so much, and I’m grateful for the opportunities I’m getting.
“But now it’s back to business for me. Was there a little bit of rust? Yeah. I’ve not had a proper game, a professional game, since the World Championship final. I’m happy to get over the line.
“The schedule is crazy – I’m just looking forward to playing my darts. I like playing all the time.”
Earlier, Aspinall edged past Lourence Ilagan of the Philippines 6-5, Ilagan missing two match darts at 5-4, while Gerwyn Price beat Reynaldo Rivera 6-4 and Rob Cross saw off Tomoya Goto 6-3.
Japan’s Haruki Muramatsu hit a 170 checkout in the fourth leg but eventually lost 6-5 to former world champion Peter Wright.
World champion Humphries and Michael van Gerwen enjoyed 6-0 wins over Abdulla Saeed and Hasan Haji respectively but defending champion Michael Smith only scraped through 6-5 against Paolo Nebrida after Nebrida missed two match darts at double 16.
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