Luke Littler was crowned the inaugural Saudia Arabia Darts Masters champion after an 8-5 victory over Michael van Gerwen in the final at the Global Theater.
Littler averaged over 104 in what was a strong performance from the world No 1 which gets him his first victory following his dominant World Championship final win at the start of the month.
It was an early onslaught from Littler as he took out the opening four legs, a 132 checkout on the bull a highlight, but the Dutchman managed to hit back with a 121 finish for a break of throw of his own to bring the score to 4-2.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Luke Littler recovers from 3-0 down to defeat Gian van Veen. Pictures courtesy on PDC
The ‘Green Machine’ tried to fight back against ‘The Nuke’ but every break of throw he found was matched by the 18-year-old and after four in a row, Littler took a 6-4 lead.
From there, Littler just relied on his power scoring to create opportunities and pinned 50 on tops to seal the win.
It is the perfect birthday present for Littler who turns 19 on Wednesday.
“It means a lot, obviously,” Littler said. “We have come over here for the first time and everyone wants to become the first champion.
“I am very glad to have and hopefully we can come back next year and defend it.”
Littler’s route to the final
Littler started his night by claiming victory in a World Darts Championship final replay against Gian van Veen.
Littler claimed a huge 7-1 victory over the Dutch No 1 at Ally Pally and left him waiting for a win against him in a sublime 6-4 win in which both players got six darts into the nine-darter and the reigning world champion averaged over 111.
The Dutch No 1 took the first three legs but then Littler fought back to level things at 3-3. With things then level at 4-4, Littler held his throw then took out a sensational 124 on the bullseye to book his spot in the semis.
Littler then booked his spot in the final and got revenge on Gerwyn Price for his defeat in Bahrain just a week ago.
Littler came out scoring well, a 121 checkout on the bull setting the standard early on, but that did not deter Price who was averaging over 107 and took tops for a break of throw and 4-2 lead going into the break.
As he often does though, the back-to-back world champion then took things up a gear as he reeled off four legs on the spin before Price could get on the board again, holding his throw on tops to seal the match against ‘Mighty Mike’.
MVG’s route to the final
Van Gerwen made it through to the first ever Saudi final with a 7-5 comeback win over Nathan Aspinall.
The big moment in the early part of the contest came in the sixth leg as Aspinall nailed a clutch 128 checkout for a break of throw and 4-2 advantage just before the break, his 180-hitting putting him on top.
However, Van Gerwen came back out and found a break of his own to level things at 4-4 then two more legs against the darts and a tops finish to make it back-to-back World Series finals after his Bahrain triumph.
The evening started with an enthralling match between MVG and Stephen Bunting in which the Dutchman wrapped up a 6-4 win with the first hold of throw, taking out 127 on the bullseye, after a staggering nine breaks of throw in a row.
Elsewhere, Aspinall started his evening with a 6-4 victory over the final remaining Asian player Man Lok Leung, who became only the third ever Asian winner on the World Series with his win over Danny Noppert on Monday, a break of throw in the third leg the key moment in what was a high quality display from both dartists.
Meanwhile, Price withstood a fight back from Luke Humphries to take a 6-5 victory in his quarter-final after a last-leg decider. Price was 3-0 up before ‘Cool Hand’ managed to bring things level at 3-3, some power scoring and a break of throw in the right moments helping the Welshman over the line.
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.
