Luke Littler defeated the legendary Paul Lim 6-1 in the first round of the Saudia Arabia Darts Masters to advance to the quarter-finals against Jan van Veen in a rematch of the World Darts Championship final.
This will be the first meeting between Littler and Van Veen since Littler won 7-1 in the canter to become the world champion for the first time in 10 years.
In a replay of the first round of the Bahrain Darts Masters, Littler led Lim 4-0 in the canter, but his power score was too much for the “Singapore Slinger” to handle.
The 18-year-old began to flounder, which allowed Rim to grab his leg on the boards, but Littler crossed the line on top, costing his opponent a double.
There was a subdued atmosphere at the Global Theater as the first darts landed in Saudi Arabia, but Littler admitted it was a challenge getting used to the near-silence inside the building.
“Obviously it’s a very strange atmosphere. It’s all new for us players,” Littler told ITV Sport.
“The environment is completely different, but if we play well, we can win 90 percent of the time.
“(Winning) means everything here. There’s only one winner and I hope we can win tomorrow.”
Jan van Veen won 6-2 over Ally Pally crowd favorite Motomu Sakai.
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Watch Motomu Sakai make another great walk-on ahead of his matchup with Andreas Harrison.
Sakai won two games in a row after a tough attack from the Dutch player, making the score 3-2.
However, Van Veen was undeterred, and as his power score returned and the 180s were rolling, he raised his legs on three consecutive runs to set up even more competition with his childhood rival.
“I was disappointed to lose to Luke (Littler) and Michael (van Gerwen), but I was always happy to get to the final,” Van Veen told ITV Sport.
“I know what I’m capable of, especially last year, and if I can show it again it’s going to be a great season.
“It’s going to be a fantastic 16 or hopefully 17 weeks, especially in the Premier League. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Knoppert suffers shocking loss as Leon makes World Series history
There was a surprise in the opening game of the night, as world No. 10 Danny Noppert lost 6-3 to Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung, becoming the third Asian winner in World Series history.
This means that seven of the eight PDC stars made it through the first round of competition.
Leon averaged over 112 early on and took a 3-0 lead.
‘The Freeze’ managed to fight back and regain a few breaks of throw, but it was too little too late as Leon took the lead in the 9th leg and secured D5 for a stunning victory.
He faced off against Nathan Aspinall, who weighs over a tonne, and scored an impressive 6-1 victory over Lawrence Ilagan.
Ilagan was not given a dart to win a leg until he pinned D19 in the sixth set, but ‘The Asp’ made sure it was his only chance and sealed the win for himself by pinning D12 in an 11-dart leg.
Price sets up Humphries and MVG vs. Bunting matchups
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Gerwyn Price scored a big fish finish against Alexis Toiro to book his place in the last eight of the Saudi Darts Masters in Riyadh. Video provided by @OfficialPDC.
Gerwyn Price won 6-0 against ‘Iceman’ Alexi Toiro, who reeled in big fish with true showmanship and an average of over 100.
In fact, it was a tough night at the office for Toiro, who couldn’t win a single dart in doubles.
The Welshman will take on Luke Humphries after ‘Cool Hand’ produced a steely performance in his 6-2 victory over Japan’s Ryusei Azumoto.
There was nothing to separate the two early in the contest as Azemoto found a 100 checkout and a throw break to help tie the score at 2-2.
But Humphries put out four legs on a spin to confirm his spot in Tuesday’s game.
Michael van Gerwen kept his hopes of winning the World Series alive with a 6-1 victory over Nitin Kumar.
Kumar’s double made him the first-ever Indian winner at Alexandra Palace last month, but he was less clinical in the global theater, allowing the Dutchman to pounce with a game-making 102-inning break en route to victory.
After ‘The Bullet’ had a strong 6-1 win over Japan’s Tomoya Goto, taking five consecutive legs before Goto had a chance to put his foot on the board, he will face Stephen Bunting in the quarter-finals.
Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will defend his title and you can watch the action every Thursday on Sky Sports from February to May. Stream darts and other top sports now.
