An evening that began with Luke Littler hitting a nine-dart finish at the very start of his Bahrain Masters quarter-final, against Nathan Aspinall, ended with the teenager claiming his first PDC title to build on his stunning impact at the World Championship.
Littler saw off experienced and formidable opposition in Gerwyn Price in the semi-final before beating Michael van Gerwen 8-5 to win the title and cap a remarkable debut on the Masters circuit.
Littler had the Bahrain crowd in raptures on Friday in the first leg of his match against Aspinall. He began with two 180s and then managed to throw out on 141 to become the youngest player to ever throw a nine-darter at a television tournament.
“The Nuke”, as he is known, has claimed the record previously held by Van Gerwen, who was 17 years old when he threw a perfect leg against Raymond van Barneveld at the Masters of Darts in Hengelo in 2007.
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The teenager was playing in only his second PDC event after making his way unheralded to the final at Alexandra Palace, where he eventually lost to Luke Humphries, earlier this month.
He won the second leg against the darts to take a 2-0 lead, only for Aspinall to break back in the third and then hold to make it 2-2. However, Littler was not to be denied and eventually ran out a 6-3 winner with a 116 checkout.
Littler then faced Gerwyn Price, who defeated Humphries 6-4 in his quarter-final but proved no match for the teenage sensation as he prevailed 7-3. Littler added a 170 finish as he hit a remarkable 70% of checkout to book a final against Van Gerwen.
Littler then powered his way past the three-times world champion Michael van Gerwen to win the final.
The 16-year-old took a 5-3 lead against the Dutchman and never looked like surrendering it as he surged to an 8-5 victory in the final clinched with a double top after he had initially left himself a 170 checkout.– Guardian
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