Majestic Littler crushes Cross as five world champions are eliminated
Majestic Littler crushes Cross as five world champions are eliminated
Luke Littler produced a stunning performance to demolish Rob Cross on day one of the Ladbrokes Players Championship final, while Luke Humphreys began his title defence with victory over Gabriel Clemens.
Day one of the £600,000 tournament saw all 64 players take part in the first round at Butlin’s Minehead Resort, with five world champions eliminated in the marathon double session. But Littler stole the show in his first Players Championship final, beating Cross in just 11 minutes and posting the second-highest average in the history of the tournament.
The new Grand Slam champion averaged 112.73 points and tied Richie Edhouse in the second round with winning legs of 14, 14, 13, 15, 13 and 11 darts. Humphries also reached the second round with a 6-2 win over Clemens, defying a midfield fightback from the German No. 2 to begin his title defence in style.
“Every match I’m playing now is hard-fought,” said the world number one, who takes on Dutch prop Raymond van Barneveld in the second round on Saturday. “If we rest on our laurels we will fail. I think we need to step up and start working harder because if we don’t others will take their place.”
A number of big names withdrew on the first day at Minehead, with seven-time champion Michael van Gerwen losing to an inspired Ian White.
White, a semi-finalist in 2019, averaged 102 and produced an impressive checkout of 170 to secure a famous 6-1 victory, while van Gerwen’s only leg was 160. 2021 champion Peter Wright suffered the same fate as Daryl Gurney, who began his bid for a second Players Championship Final crown with an average of 108.81.
Elsewhere, 2014 winner Gary Anderson lost five darts in an incredible late clash with Ryan Meikle to surrender a 5-3 lead despite an average of 103 and a maximum of five points. Gervin Price-Second was located in 2019, a 6-4 defeat against ThewAult TROCOLE, and the 2017 finalist, Johnny Kleiton, was punished by the length of Florian Henper in Germany.
Jeffrey de Glaoff abolished the 5-3 deficit in 2021 after 180 years of six years. This was second from Ryan Silla before the third seed, and Dimon Kuta won a 6: 1 score in double finalist Marwin King. Heta is now the best seeds for this event, and is the highest seed at the event after Chris Bunting has been BEAT with persuasive power with Nathan Aspinal and Mario Vandenbo Garden, respectively.
James Wade, a ten winner of the TV title, became another noisy victim and lost to 6-4 Steven Burton. World number three Michael Smith suffered a major scare in his opening match against Nick Kenny, who fought back to win 4-0 up but missed two darts in a dramatic finale. Danny Noppert also won his deciding match against James Harrell and five-time world champion Van Barneveld averaged 98 points to comfortably survive an all-Dutch showdown with Chris Landman. Ross Smith, Mike Dekker and Josh Lock also won convincingly in the first round on Friday night, defeating the trio of Dimitri van den Bergh, Richard Wenstra and Ricky Evans, while Scott Williams averaged 104 points in his final match to deny Jan van Veen victory and set up a showdown with 2012 finalist Kim Huybrechts, who comfortably beat Wessel Nijman 6-1. The fifth seeds of Dave Numanall throw Joe Cullen at the same point and celebrate the return to the winning road.
Dirk Van Dujoven, on average, sent Karanridge immediately at the age of 99, and Jermaine WazLiten refused Alan Turter’s slow battle to continue the impressive update. EDHAUS and Litter collided with the last TV winner on Saturday after the European champion won 116 people and defeated the Wood House Luke with the last shooting.
Connor Scat, Wesley Prisia Two 2024, the best players, and on the first day, 6-4 was closed for Martin Lukman and Mensor Sulzhovich, respectively. Cameron Menzies knocked down five 180s to eliminate Jim Williams. The Scotsman’s reward will be a match against 2023 semi-finalist Ryan Joyce, who recovered from 4-2 down to defeat Karel Sedlacek.
Germany’s number one Martin Schindler beat Brendan Dolan 6-2, while Krzysztof Ratajski and Niels Sonnefeldt beat Madars Rasma and William O’Connor. Double session Saturdays are divided on the main stage and the second stage, the second round is held in the afternoon, and the third round is a huge hit evening session.
The play will be broadcast on the second stage of PDCTV in ITV4 in the UK and on PDC broadcasts, including DAZN and VIAPLAY, and will be broadcast on the second stage of PDCTV and global partners.