Luke Littler was crowned the inaugural Saudi Darts Masters Champion with an 8-5 victory over Michael van Gerwen in the final at the Global Theatre.
Littler averaged more than 104 and delivered a strong performance from the No. 1 player in the world, picking up his first win after a commanding victory in the World Championship final earlier in the month.
An early onslaught with Littler taking the first four legs, highlighted by a 132 checkout on the bull, but the Dutchman managed to fight back with a 121 finish and a slow break of his own to make the score 4-2.
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Luke Littler recovers from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Jan van Veen. Photo provided by: PDC
“The Green Machine” tried to fight back against “The Nuke,” but every break he found was met by the 18-year-old, giving Littler a 6-4 lead in the fourth straight inning.
From there, Littler relied on power scoring to create chances, scoring 50 points at the top to seal the victory.
The perfect birthday gift for Littler, who turns 19 on Wednesday.
“It obviously means a lot,” Littler said. “This is our first time here and everyone wants to be the first champion.
“I’m very happy and I hope I can come back and defend next year.”
Littler’s path to the finals
Littler started the night with a win in a World Darts Championship final rematch against Jan Van Veen.
Littler cruised to a resounding 7-1 win over the Dutch No. 1 at Ally Pally, with both players hitting six of nine darts and the reigning world champion averaging over 111 for a stunning 6-4 win against him.
The Dutch No. 1 took the lead in the first three legs, but then Littler fought back to tie the score at 3-3. With the match tied at 4-4, Littler held his throw and shot a sensational 124 at the bullseye to clinch a spot in the semifinals.
Littler then secured a spot in the final, taking revenge on Gerwyn Price, whom he had defeated just a week earlier in Bahrain.
Littler performed well, posting a checkout 121 on the bull and setting the standard early on, but Price, who was averaging over 107, was undaunted and took the lead in the slow break, entering the break with a 4-2 lead.
But, as he often does, the back-to-back world champion then geared up by winding up all four legs on a spin and holding the throw at the top to seal the match with ‘Mighty Mike’ before Price got on the board again.
MVG’s path to the finals
Van Gerwen became the first Saudi to reach the final with a 7-5 come-from-behind victory over Nathan Aspinall.
The big moment early in the contest came in the sixth leg, when Aspinall completed a clutch 128 checkout on a slow break to take a 4-2 advantage just before the break and take the lead with 180 hits.
However, Van Gerwen came back and found his own break to level the score at 4-4 and then finished on top against Darts in two more legs to advance to his second successive World Series final following his win in Bahrain.
The night started with a frenetic match between MVG and Stephen Bunting, with the Dutchman taking out 127 in the bullseye after an incredible nine consecutive throw breaks, winning 6-4 on his first throw hold.
In other games, Aspinall defeated the last remaining Asian player, Man Lok Leung, 6-4, and became the third Asian winner in World Series history with his win over Danny Noppert on Monday. There was a throwing break in the third leg, and it was an important moment that saw quality play from both darts.
Price, meanwhile, withstood a fightback from Luke Humphries and won 6-5 in the quarter-finals after a decisive final leg. Although Price were leading 3-0, ‘Cool Hand’ managed to level the score at 3-3, with some power scoring and well-timed interruptions helping the Welshman get over the line.
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