Luke Littler has continued his rise to stardom by winning the Bahrain Masters - his first PDC title - on Friday night with victory over Michael van Gerwen.
The 16-year-old, who was runner-up at the recent World Championship, opened up a record-breaking evening with a nine-darter in the first leg of his quarter-final against Nathan Aspinall.
After prevailing by a 6-3 scoreline, the teenager backed that performance up with a 7-3 triumph over Gerwyn Price in a match where he hit a 170 checkout.
With Van Gerwen coming through matches with Rob Cross and Michael Smith, it set up the first-ever meeting between the starlet and the legendary Dutchman.
LUKE LITTLER IS THE 2024 BAHRAIN DARTS MASTER 🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 19, 2024
Simply breathtaking from the 16-year-old... 🙌
He hits a nine-darter, and beats Man Lok Leung, Nathan Aspinall, Gerwyn Price and MIchael van Gerwen to win his first PDC Senior title.
The first of how many...? pic.twitter.com/aCSSJ6sTnD
Littler would record a 8-5 success, and the margin only became as close as it was due to a wide array of missed doubles, with a total of 18 missed by the youngster during the match.
Nevertheless, for the large part, Van Gerwen was outscored by the prodigy, who defied Van Gerwen taking two successive legs for 5-5 to reel off three straight legs for victory.
While the jury is out over whether Littler can sustain his level for next week's Dutch Darts Masters and the Premier League, his displays on Friday have most certainly justified his inclusion.
Darren Plant
