16 days after losing in the World Darts Championship final, Luke Littler won his first World Series title with an 8-5 win over Michael van Gerwen at the Bahrain Masters
16-year-old sensation Luke Littler continued his meteoric rise, defeating former world No. 1 Michael van Gerwen to be crowned Bahrain Masters champion.
Littler, who made headlines for his incredible rise to the World Championships last month, defeated Man Lok Leong, Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price on his way to the final in Bahrain, defeating Fan Fan in an eventful showdown. Defeated Gerwen 8-5.
After Littler got off to a winning start, Van Gerwen leveled the score by punishing a teenager who missed two darts at double 10. ‘The Nuke’ regained the lead before Van Gerwen hit back hard to make it 2-2. .
Littler won the fifth and seventh legs and entered the mini-interval with a 4-3 advantage as both players continued to avoid break opportunities, leaving him just four legs away from winning his first World Series. .
Despite missing a chance to break Van Gerwen with a double eight, Littler made no mistake and hit a double four to take a 5-3 lead. But Van Gerwen was on the verge of collapsing when he broke back straight and won the 10th leg after Littler missed five darts for a double four, leveling the score at 5-5.
That didn’t seem to affect Littler, who calmed down and extended his lead to 6-5. ‘The Nuke’ then defeated Van Gerwen in the 12th leg, moving him one leg away from winning the Bahrain Masters title. Littler then kept his cool and hit a double 20 in his first at-bat for an 8-5 victory.
When asked about his historic win, Littler told ITV4: “I’m happy to have won. I played well yesterday and I played well tonight. Nobody will believe me but I haven’t played darts since the world finals. I’m not throwing,” he said.
“Michael is one of the best players and I’m happy he won on his debut. This week has been unbelievable so I’m happy to get the win.”
Speaking to ITV4 after the defeat, Van Gerwen said: “A week without a win is never a good week, but Luke put in a great performance. We all know what he’s capable of. We want to help him develop and improve his skills. I want them to do what they have to do.”
“What you haven’t shown in previous matches is punished. That’s how sports work. Of course I’m disappointed, but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I’ll get him, don’t worry!”
Littler has endured a meteoric rise in recent weeks since making his World Darts Championship debut. The teenager defeated Christian Quist in the first round at Ally Pally and went on to win over the likes of Andrew Gilding, Matt Campbell, Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Doran and Rob Cross. He continued his historic run all the way to the finals.
But in the final, Littler was stopped in his tracks by Luke Humphries as “Cool Hands” won 7-4. After a two-week break from darts, Littler returned to action in his first World Series event in Bahrain on Thursday. He easily got past Lok Leong in the first round, then beat Aspinall, Price and Van Gerwen to win the tournament and take home the top prize of £20,000.
In his quarterfinal win over Aspinall, Littler hit a sensational nine-darter in the opening leg, making him the youngest player to land a perfect leg in a World Series event.
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