Luke Littler breezed to a 6-1 victory over the legendary Paul Lim in round one of the Saudia Arabia Darts Masters to set up a quarter-final with Gian van Veen, a rematch of the World Darts Championship Final.
It will mark the first time that Littler and Van Veen have faced each other since Littler cantered to a 7-1 victory that saw him crowned the first back-to-back world champion in a decade.
In a Bahrain Darts Masters first-round replay, Littler had cantered into a 4-0 lead over Lim, his power scoring too much for the ‘Singapore Slinger’ to handle.
The 18-year-old did start to flounder which allowed Lim to get a leg on the board but as doubling cost his opponent, Littler got over the line on tops.
It was a subdued atmosphere at the Global Theatre as darts landed in Saudi Arabia for the first time and Littler admitted it was a task to get used to the near silence in the building.
“Obviously it is a very weird atmosphere, it is all new to us players,” Littler told ITV Sport.
“It is a very different environment but as long as you play well you are going to win 90 per cent of the time.
“It would mean everything [to win] here. There can only be one winner and hopefully I do win it tomorrow.”
Gian van Veen picked up a 6-2 victory over Ally Pally crowd favourite Motomu Sakai.
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Take a look as Motomu Sakai produced another brilliant walk-on ahead of his clash against Andreas Harrysson.
Sakai won two legs in a row after the Dutchman hit a rough patch to bring the score to 3-2.
That did not deter Van Veen though and as his power scoring returned, with the 180s flowing, he picked up three legs in a row to set up another contest with his childhood rival.
“I was gutted to lose to Luke [Littler] and then Michael [van Gerwen] but I was always happy to make it to those finals,” Van Veen told ITV Sport.
“I know what I am capable of, especially last year, and if I can show it again it is going to be a great season.
“Especially in the Premier League- it will be 16 or hopefully 17 brilliant weeks. I am looking forward to it.”
Noppert suffers shock loss as Leung makes World Series history
There was a surprise in the opening match of the night as world No 10 Danny Noppert was beaten 6-3 by Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung as he became the third Asian winner in World Series history.
It means seven of the eight PDC stars made it through their first round contests.
Leung raced into a 3-0 lead with an average over 112 in the early part of proceedings.
‘The Freeze’ managed to fight back and take back a couple of breaks of throw but it was too little too late as Leung raced ahead in the ninth leg and pinned D5 to wrap up a magnificent win.
He will face Nathan Aspinall who averaged over a ton in a classy 6-1 victory over Lourence Ilagan.
Ilagan was not afforded a dart to win a leg until the sixth when he pinned D19, ‘The Asp’ making sure that was his only opportunity as he pinned D12 for an 11-dart leg to see himself through.
Price sets up Humphries clash with MVG vs Bunting
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Gerwyn Price hit the big fish finish against Alexis Toylo to secure a spot in the last eight of the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters in Riyadh. Footage courtesy of @OfficialPDC.
Gerwyn Price came through with a whitewash 6-0 victory against Alexi Toylo, the ‘Iceman’ reeling in the Big Fish in a real display of showmanship with an over 100 average.
Indeed, it was a tough night at the office for Toylo who did not get a single dart at the doubles.
The Welshman will take on Luke Humphries after ‘Cool Hand’ showed steel in a 6-2 win against Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto.
There was nothing separating the two early in the contest as Azemoto found a 100 checkout and break of throw to help level things at 2-2.
However, Humphries then took out four legs on the spin to seal his spot in Tuesday’s action.
Michael van Gerwen kept his hopes of back-to-back World Series titles going with a comprehensive 6-1 win over Nitin Kumar.
Kumar’s doubling saw him become the first ever Indian winner at Alexandra Palace last month but it was not so clinical at the Global Theatre which allowed the Dutchman to pounce with a game-making 102 break of throw on the way to victory.
He will face Stephen Bunting in the quarter-finals after ‘The Bullet’ put in a strong showing with a 6-1 victory over Japan’s Tomoya Goto, reeling off five legs in a row before Goto had the chance to get a leg on the board.
Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday from February until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.
