Luke Littler made it into the semi-finals of the Darts World Championship with a show of force. This means that the 18-year-old defending champion can dream of his third final in his third World Cup participation. The young Englishman didn’t lose a set against Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski and won 5-0.
The fact that the question of victory had already become a side note before the match documents, on the one hand, the dominance of the superstar. But there was also a bigger topic beyond 180s and double 10s. The big question was how the fans would react to the world number one and how Littler would react after his memorable round of 16 with an open dispute between him and the audience.
The evening began with boos, which Littler commented on with a narrow facial expression. However, his walk-on was loudly sung along to and then there was warm applause. The player also hesitantly clapped his hands in the direction of the fans. No, he didn’t trust the roast yet. Then, as soon as the ball was thrown in, Alexandra Palace made a statement: “There’s only one Luke Littler”. Yes, he liked that. He raised his eyebrows, grinned and looked kindly at the audience. Who was actually under whose observation here?
Luke Littler checks the 170
A reconciliation was on the horizon. And it was played: Littler missed a few set darts to make it 1-0, only to check 170 points in the decider against the throw. The Ally Pally was upside down – and Littler cast the imaginary fishing rod on stage. At least now the relationship was repaired again.
And everything was quickly resolved in terms of sport. It was the first of seven legs in a row for the superstar. “He’s getting better and better. Scary,” said TV pundit John Part, world champion in 2003 and 2008, on British commentary.
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In the fourth set, Ratajski had three darts to win the set, but also gave up this round, made too many mistakes and remained powerless against Littler’s B-Game with an average of 100 and a double rate of 56 percent.
“Hopefully I’ll play better tomorrow. I always want to get better,” said Littler, who will now face his compatriot Ryan Searle and is pleased about the increase in intensity that has begun. He would like to play every day now without the long breaks. “The sooner I can get back to work, the better.”
Finally, of course, a question and a sentence about the actual topic of the day: “The audience was very good tonight. A new year, but obviously we also have new fans. That was great.”
If Lutz Wöckener Not exactly trying out any sport on his own, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also about offbeat things like football.
Darts World Cup 2026, results
Quarterfinals:
- Ryan Searle (ENG/20) – Jonny Clayton (WAL/5) 5:2 (3:1, 3:0, 3:1, 1:3, 3:2, 1:3, 3:0)
- Gary Anderson (SCO/14) – Justin Hood (ENG) 5:2 (3:0, 1:3, 3:0, 2:3, 3:0, 3:1, 3:0)
- Luke Littler (ENG/1) – Krzysztof Ratajski (POL) 5:0 (3:2, 3:0, 3:0, 3:2, 3:1)
- Luke Humphries (ENG/2) – Gian van Veen (NED/10)
Semi-finals, January 2nd, 8:15 p.m.:
- Luke Littler (ENG/1) – Ryan Searle (ENG/20)
- Luke Humphries (ENG/2)/Gian van Veen (NED/10) – Gary Anderson (SCO/14)
