Teenage sensation Luke Littler made his long-awaited World Series of Darts debut at the Bahrain Masters, defeating Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung 6-3.
Littler, who turns 17 in three days, became the youngest finalist at the PDC World Championship in early January.
He will face fellow Briton Nathan Aspinall in the last eight after the match play world champion defeated Lawrence Ilagan of the Philippines 6-5.
The winner of the tournament will receive a top prize of £20,000.
The first round on Thursday will see eight players from the PDC circuit face off against eight players from Asia in a best-of-11 leg match.
The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are all scheduled to take place on Friday.
Littler, who had been absent since his spell at Alexandra Palace, missed three double fives in the first leg and lost 2-0. But then he delivered five consecutive legs to seal the victory over the world No. 126.
Meanwhile, new world champion Luke Humphries extended his winning streak to 19 matches with a resounding 6-0 win over host Abdullah Saeed.
The world number one has also won the World Grand Prix, Darts Grand Slam and Players Championship Final in recent months and is aiming for his fifth TV title in six tournaments.
Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen won with the same scoreline of 6-0 against Bahrain’s Hasan Haji.
Two-time world champion Peter Wright of Scotland came close with a 6-5 win over PDC Asian Championship winner Haruki Muramatsu (Japan), while England’s Michael Smith also came close with a score of 6-5. He scored a goal from the right side against Paolo Nebrida.
Wales’ Gerwyn Price defeated Reynaldo Rivera of the Philippines 6-4 and Rob Cross tied the score at 3-3 with the Japanese pitcher winning three straight legs to beat Tomoya Goto 6-3. .