Luke Littler said “it can only get better” after his “fantastic” win in the third round of the World Darts Championship.
On Saturday night, Littler posted a career-best average of 107.09 points at Alexandra Palace, defeating Mensur Suljovic 4-0 in just 25 minutes.
The 18-year-old will face either Damon Heta or Rob Cross on Monday night live on Sky Sports, and is yet to drop a set in his three matches so far.
Asked who can stop him, Littler said, “It’s very difficult to decide. He’s been playing well this tournament.”
“The third round was my best performance. I can only get better and I hope I can play like that again in the next match.”
There were two nine-darters at this stage of last year’s tournament, but no one has yet reached the perfect dart in this tie.
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Watch every nine-darter hit at the PDC World Championship
Littler, who has thrown four nine-darters in his brief professional career over the past two seasons, is aiming for his first appearance at a world championship and brings up that prospect when discussing his 100 percent winning set record so far this year.
“It’s always good not to drop a set. You can take the lead in most matches,” he said.
“But I did it many times in a row in practice before the game, but I never did it there (on stage)…I hope I can do the nine-darter in the next few days.”
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Luke Littler playfully criticizes Stephen Bunting after No. 4 seed is eliminated
Littler: Anything can happen.
Littler, who has won six televised ranking tournaments in the past 12 months, is aiming to become the first fighter to defend his world title since Gary Anderson 10 years ago.
His performance against Suljovic once again underlined his status as the front-runner for the world championship, with the teenager admitting he had “set a mark”.
“Because it’s darts, there’s probably an 80 to 90 percent chance that I’m not going to come back here and hit an average of 107,” he said.
“We don’t always play like this, we don’t always play high numbers, and sometimes it’s just about getting the job done. I think that’s a statement.”
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Luke Littler reflects on his emphatic 4-0 win over Mensur Suljovic to reach the last 16 of the World Darts Championship
Littler has an impressive record in the long format seen at the end of the World Championships, winning seven sets in the fourth round, nine in the quarterfinals, 11 in the semifinals, and 13 in the final.
He has only lost one match over 20 legs, and that was against Luke Humphries in the 2024 World Championship final.
“Obviously people might say, ‘Whoever plays Luke next, he’s going to lose,’ but this is darts, you never know what’s going to happen, anybody can win or lose,” Littler said.
“I just want to play in the next game and hopefully perform like I did in the third round.”
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