Luke Littler is reaching for the darts crown again – and after the next demonstration of power, he is only one step away from successfully defending his world title. The 18-year-old star of the scene easily reached the final with a 6-1 win against his English compatriot Ryan Searle and thus made it to the final for the third time in his third World Cup participation.
“It was very good and I’m very happy,” Littler said on DAZN. “When your opponent keeps throwing 140, 180 and then 140 again, you have to feel comfortable and that’s what I did.”
On Saturday (9 p.m./Sport1 and DAZN), Littler will face two-time world champion Gary Anderson (Scotland) or Dutch shooting star Gian van Veen in the duel for the coveted Sid Waddell Trophy. The second finalist will be determined on Friday evening in London’s Alexandra Palace.
One day after his confident 5-0 win against Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski, Littler lost the first set. But then the world number one, who stormed into the final at his World Cup debut at the age of 16, increased the number of hits. Mainly thanks to his strong scoring, Littler secured set after set, Searle missed his few chances on the doubles fields. In the meantime, Littler won eleven legs in a row and used his first match dart. Previously, only record winners Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley and Anderson had made three final appearances in a row at the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Championships.
For Searle, known as “Heavy Metal”, the culmination of a remarkable run at this tournament failed to materialise. The Englishman, who suffers from a rare eye disease that causes vision to deteriorate over time, beat Strausberg’s Martin Schindler in round three and had only lost two World Cup sets until the semi-finals. To draw attention to Searle’s illness, a sponsor came up with something special on Friday evening: The logos in the Ally Pally were all blurred out.
