Luke Littler produced yet another simply unbelievable performance to retain his World Matchplay title, beating Gerwyn Price 18-9 in Blackpool to become the first player in a decade to win the title back-to-back, and only the fourth player in the tournament’s history to lift it more than once.
Records fell throughout. Littler’s 111.04 tournament average was itself record-breaking, before he topped it again with a match average of 111.53, the highest ever recorded in a Matchplay final.
The Nuke also smashed his own 180 record for the tournament, hitting 66 maximums across the week to beat the 64 he set twelve months earlier.
Price arrived with genuine reason for confidence. Despite having lost his last nine meetings with Littler, he’d actually got the better of him on eight occasions across the teenager’s two-and-a-half year professional career.
For four legs, it looked like Price may have some answers for Littler. He matched the reigning champion punch for punch, and hadn’t put a foot wrong by the end of the fourth leg, narrowly missing tops for a 145 checkout that would have kept him level.
That miss proved costly. Littler stepped in with a simply stunning 167 finish, his first bullseye checkout of the tournament. He then followed it with a 110 out to head into the first interval 4-1 up.
From that moment, it already felt like a matter of time before the reigning champion got his hands back on the Phil Taylor Trophy.Littler emerged from the break in ruthless fashion, reeling off back-to-back eleven-darters.
Price did manage to claw back some of the deficit, but couldn’t prevent Littler taking three of the next five legs to move 7-3 clear. The champion’s finishing power then went up another level entirely. A second bullseye finish of the tournament, this time a 127, stretched the lead to 9-3, and a third took it to 11-3.
Price did pick up another consolation leg heading into the third break to make it 11-4, but there was no real dent being made in Littler’s advantage.Littler took the next mini-session 3-2 to move 14-6 ahead. Price then manage to win the following session outright, but the joy was short-lived.
Littler responded with his sixth 100+ checkout of the match, a 148, to leave himself needing just two legs to reclaim his crown.From there, it was a formality. Littler capped off the win with an 81 finish, yet another bullseye finish, to seal his second Matchplay title, and his first defence of it in some style.
Littler reflected on a week that will live long in the memory:
“It’s been a crazy week, it’s been one of the best weeks of my life with the darts I’ve played. It’s been tough, and obviously the stats may look like it’s easy, but when you’re on that stage and how hot it is, it’s not easy. I definitely feel like it’s the best version of myself throughout the week. It’s been very good, hard, but I’ve just been playing so well…”
For Price, it was a first TV ranking title in three years to reflect on, along with a rise to World Number Four and the title of Welsh Number One that he has been craving to get back for so long.On the final itself, he was gracious in defeat:
“The crowd has been great for me, but Luke’s one in a million. I threw everything at him – I think I played pretty decently in that game.”
A title defence like this and in the manner that ‘The Nuke’ achieved it, just now leaves the darting world wondering:
Can anyone stop this train of dominance?
Betfred World Matchplay 2026
Final
Luke Littler 18-9 Gerwyn Price
Images: PDC / Taylor Lanning
