The three-time world champion, who had lost to the 17-year-old in the Bahrain final previous weekend, defeated Littler 8–6.
Michael van Gerwen upset Luke Littler’s hopes of winning consecutive World Series titles in the Dutch Darts Masters final in Den Bosch.
The three-time world champion, who had lost to the 17-year-old in the Bahrain final previous weekend, defeated Littler 8–6.
After the first 12 legs, Littler had nothing to split the pair, so he missed two darts at double eight, breaking van Gerwen’s throw and putting him one leg away from a second title.
Rather, van Gerwen gave one leg away and only needed one chance to win an 85 finish and snap Littler’s winning streak.
On Saturday, Littler began his campaign by exacting retribution on Luke Humphries, who had wronged him at last month’s world final at Alexandra Palace.
After falling behind 4–2, Littler rallied to win 6–5 in a thrilling finish thanks to an 88 checkout on the bull.
The Warrington player then defeated Gerwyn Price 7–4 to secure his spot in a World Masters final. Price had previously lost to Kevin Doets in the final eight after missing double 12 for a nine-dart finish.
Van Gerwen, on the other hand, had performed poorly in his back-to-back wins over Gian van Veen and Raymond van Barneveld, but he rose to the occasion.
“This is what people like to watch—he put me under so much pressure,” Van Gerwen said in an interview with ITVX.
We all know that Luke Littler has a great future ahead of him, but you still need to act morally when dealing with him. He has incredible scoring ability, so you have to persevere.
