Van Barneveld & Littler set up Saturday showdown with opening night wins.
Raymond van Barneveld and Luke Littler will meet in the second round of the Jack’s World Series of Darts Finals after securing opening night wins in Amsterdam on Friday.
Dutch legend Van Barneveld delighted his adoring faithful at AFAS Live with a 6-0 rout of Sweden’s Johan Engstrom, while Littler survived match darts in a 6-5 defeat of Ross Smith.
Saturday evening’s mouth-watering second round clash will give Van Barneveld the chance to avenge his 2023/24 World Championship loss to Littler in front of a sell-out crowd in Amsterdam.
2018 World Series Finals runner-up Van Barneveld landed three 180s and restricted Engstrom to just two double attempts in a dominant display as he eased into the last 16.
Van Barneveld received a tremendous welcome at AFAS Live, and admitted: “The crowd are always backing me because in their mind, I’m a legend – but you still need to do it.
“You have to rely on yourself and take your chances and keep on putting him under pressure all the time.
“Playing for your home crowd is fantastic, but tomorrow you play a guy who can play like Phil Taylor! He’s fantastic – I’m really looking forward to it.
“I know what I need to do to beat him; to play my A-game and maybe even more than my A-game. If you play well you always get chances, but you have to take them.”
Littler’s path into round two was less straightforward, as the teenage sensation survived two match darts in a dramatic deciding leg.
Number one seed Littler – the winner in Bahrain and Poland this year – averaged 103.3 on his World Series of Darts Finals debut, but relinquished a 5-3 lead as a typically dogged Smith forced a last-leg shoot-out.
However, the former European Champion was unable to take out 26, allowing Littler to take out 51 with a last-dart double ten.
“I’m glad to get over the line,” admitted Littler, who reeled off four legs in just 50 darts to come from 3-1 down to lead 5-3. “Ross let me in and I took my chance.
“Me and Raymond will both be confident and I’ll go into the game wanting to win, just like tonight.
“I’ll just play my darts – in the worst case I’ll have to switch on the gears again like I did tonight, but I’ll have to try to get off to a good start tomorrow.”
Five-time champion Michael van Gerwen began his title defence with a 6-4 win over Jonny Clayton in a scrappy affair which saw both players uncharacteristically average below 90.
However, Van Gerwen did enough to secure victory and continue his bid for a sixth World Series Finals crown.
“We all know I can do a lot better but it was more important that I won this game,” said Van Gerwen. “Today was not the game I want to show everyone and I think there’s a lot more in the tank.
“I know I have to do more if I want to do well in this tournament and what I showed tonight is not good enough so it has to be better.
“I need to make sure I have a good night’s rest and make sure I’m sharp tomorrow.”
Van Gerwen will meet Danny Noppert in a repeat of the 2019 final after Noppert secured a 6-3 win over fellow Dutchman Gian van Veen.
World number one Luke Humphries secured his passage through with a 6-3 defeat of New Zealand’s Haupai Puha.
NZ Darts Masters champion Humphries will now take on Damon Heta after the Australian number one held his nerve in a dramatic last-leg decider against Gabriel Clemens.
Chris Dobey also came through a deciding leg, miraculously finding his way through to a seemingly blocked bullseye for a 132 checkout to see off Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Dobey’s round two opponent will be Boris Krcmar, who caused a minor upset on his World Series Finals debut, defeating Stephen Bunting 6-4 as he came from 4-2 down to celebrate his 45th birthday in style.
The first round concludes on Saturday afternoon, as 2022 champion Gerwyn Price meets Scottish star Cameron Menzies, while a resurgent Peter Wright plays last weekend’s European Tour winner Dave Chisnall.
Rob Cross – the winner at the US Darts Masters in June – takes on Australian veteran Simon Whitlock, world number two Michael Smith plays Portugal’s Jose de Sousa and 2022 runner-up Dirk van Duijvenbode begins his campaign against Daryl Gurney.
The second round will take place on Saturday evening, followed by the quarter-finals on Sunday afternoon ahead of the semi-finals and final in Sunday’s decisive evening session.
The tournament is being broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding subscribers based in the UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
2024 Jack’s World Series of Darts Finals
Friday September 13
First Round x8
Boris Krcmar 6-4 Stephen Bunting
Damon Heta 6-5 Gabriel Clemens
Chris Dobey 6-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Raymond van Barneveld 6-0 Johan Engstrom
Luke Littler 6-5 Ross Smith
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Jonny Clayton
Luke Humphries 6-3 Haupai Puha
Danny Noppert 6-3 Gian van Veen
Saturday September 14
Afternoon Session (1245 CEST, 1145 BST)
First Round x8
Keane Barry v Kevin Doets
Rhys Griffin v Jeff Smith
Daryl Gurney v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gerwyn Price v Cameron Menzies
Peter Wright v Dave Chisnall
Rob Cross v Simon Whitlock
Wessel Nijman v Andrew Gildnig
Michael Smith v Jose de Sousa
Evening Session (1900 CEST, 1800 BST)
Second Round x8
Chris Dobey v Boris Krcmar
Luke Littler v Raymond van Barneveld
Luke Humphries v Damon Heta
Michael van Gerwen v Danny Noppert
Price/Menzies v Gurney/van Duijvenbode
Wright/Chisnall v Griffin/J Smith
Cross/Whitlock v Barry/Doets
M Smith/De Sousa v Nijman/Gilding
—–ENDS—–
Images: Kelly Deckers / PDC
