Luke Littler picked up right where he left off at the Winter Gardens, booking his spot in a second consecutive World Matchplay final and keeping alive his bid to retain the Phil Taylor Trophy.
The reigning and defending champion beat Dirk van Duijvenbode 17-5, averaging 110.88 with 50% success rate on the outer ring.Littler carried his quarter-final form straight into this one, taking the first mini-session 4-1.
Van Duijvenbode didn’t even get a dart at double until the final leg of that session, which he took to rather stem the bleed, but it already felt like a matter of time before Littler reached the magic number 17.
The Dutchman continued to struggle to find any scoring power, and quickly found himself 8-2 down at the second interval, with Littler averaging north of 117 at that stage of the match.Van Duijvenbode found some life immediately out of the break, capping a twelve-darter with a brilliant 146 checkout to give himself a shot of momentum. Though, it didn’t last.
Littler answered in emphatic fashion, pinning a stunning 130 checkout on double five to move 12-3 ahead and five legs from victory.The final break simply delayed the inevitable.
With ‘The Nuke’ one leg from the match, Van Duijvenbode did manage a consolatory hold of throw in the 21st leg, but it did nothing to derail his opponent.In the final leg, Littler reeled off back-to-back maximums, briefly raising hopes among the crowd of a nine-darter, before closing out the match in 13 darts to deal a 17-5 win.
Littler said:
“I saw the average on the screen at one point, but it was another good performance. I think I was a bit too focused on hitting the highest average, which I shouldn’t have been. But I got the job done and it’s back-to-back finals.”
On growing his lead at the top of the order of merit, now over £3 million, roughly £2 million clear of second, Littler said:
“I want to stay dominant and keep winning and winning to stay at the top…”
The World Number One now takes on Gerwyn Price who has got the better of him on eight occasions before.
On the prospect of tomorrow’s final, the 19-year-old said:
“Me and Gez, we always have great games. I think he’ll want to drag me into a roaring battle, but as long as I get into a lead I’ll be happy.”
Images: PDC / Taylor Lanning
