Luke Littler was victorious in his first match since his unforgettable run to the PDC World Championship final on Thursday, overcoming Man Lok Leung on his World Series of Darts debut.
Littler was credited with reigniting mainstream interest in darts with his thrilling run to the World Championship showpiece match at Alexandra Palace earlier this month, though he fell at the final hurdle in a 7-4 defeat to Luke Humphries.
Littler, who turns 17 on Sunday, was the youngest finalist in the tournament’s history and landed a £200,000 prize for his run to the final, which also saw him handed a place in the prestigious eight-player Premier League for 2024.
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On Thursday, Littler returned to action to open his Bahrain Masters campaign with a 6-3 win over Leung, recovering from a nervy start which saw him go two legs down.
Littler will face fellow Englishman Nathan Aspinall in the last eight after wrapping up his victory with a 120 checkout.
Humphries was also in action at the tournament, thrashing Abdulla Saeed 6-0 to tee up a quarter-final against 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price, who beat Reynaldo Rivera 6-4.
Eight Asian players were pitted against eight of the PDC circuit’s best in Thursday’s first round, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final due to take place on Friday.
Some performance from Luke Littler as he shakes off an early scare 💪 pic.twitter.com/Hom7QTdFeV
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 18, 2024
