World Darts Championship: Luke Littler survives scare and beats Ryan Meikle in tough opener at Alexandra Palace

Luke Littler made a winning start to his bid for a maiden World Darts Championship title after coming through a tough test against Ryan Meikle at Alexandra Palace.

Last year's runner-up recovered from a slow start to dominate the closing stages of the contest, wrapping up a 3-1 victory to book a third-round meeting with Ritchie Edhouse or Ian White after Christmas.

Littler needed a tops-tops finish to edge the first set in a final-leg decider but saw Meikle level the contest by winning the second, with the 17-year-old responding to being broken again in the third to close out the set and edge ahead.

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The reigning Premier League champion then showed his brilliant best in a one-sided fourth set, opening with an 11-darter before firing eight perfect darts on his way to breaking Meikle in the following leg.

He missed the D12 for the nine-darter but wrapped up victory with another 11-darter in the next, with Littler visibly emotional after firing a staggering 140.91 - the highest ever set average in World Darts Championship history - where he needed just 32 darts to win all three legs.

How Littler survived Ally Pally scare

Littler received a huge welcome from the Alexandra Palace but struggled in the opening leg, allowing Meikle to hold despite missing five darts at double, with the pair exchanging 13-darters during a tight start.

Meikle squandered two set darts to allow Littler to break back and then fire five perfect darts on his way to claiming the decider, taking out the 100 checkout with a showboat finish, although the unseeded player bounced back by winning the first two legs of the second.

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The fourth seed produced a 15-dart hold ahead of Meikle closing out the set, with both players exchanging breaks at the start of the third before Littler took full control of the contest by winning the next two and moving into a 2-1 lead.

Meikle's hopes quickly evaporated when Littler opened with back-to-back 180s on his way to an 11-darter, with 'The Nuke' going agonisingly close to matching Christian Kist's efforts from earlier in the week and firing a second nine-darter of the tournament.

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Littler took out the D6 for a 10-dart leg before signing off in emphatic style in the next, completing a victory he admitted in his post-match press conference had been "one of the toughest" he has played in his young career.

"It's probably the first and the biggest time it [pressure] has hit me," Littler told Sky Sports. "The Premier League, first night against Luke Humphries, I was nervous then, but throughout the year - all the European tours, all the majors I've played - I've been fine.

"Coming here, leading up to it, fine. As soon as George Noble said 'game on', I was just like - couldn't throw them."

Littler added: "[Pressure] been a lot to deal with, but like I said, leading up fine. As soon as George says 'game on', I just couldn't do it. First set, I shouldn't have won it, but I did. Then after that second break you've just got to drag yourself over the line. "

Van Barneveld suffers shock exit as seeds tumble

Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was knocked out after struggling throughout a 3-1 loss to Nick Kenny, as compatriot Danny Noppert also suffered an early exit by the same margin against Ryan Joyce.

Van Barneveld saw his walk-on song cut out twice as he made his way to the stage, with the Dutchman broken in the opening leg and losing a sluggish first set despite Kenny wasting seven set darts on a double.

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The Welshman won the next two legs to pile further pressure on Van Barneveld, who responded by firing 15 and 13-darters before losing a final-leg decider to fall two sets down and silence the partisan Alexandra Palace crowd.

Van Barneveld bounced back to claim the third set and survived two match darts to take the fourth to a final-leg decider, where Kenny missed six more looks at double before closing out victory on double two to set up a meeting with Luke Humphries after Christmas.

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Noppert appeared to have control of his opener when he was closing in on a two-set cushion, only for Joyce to level the match with a 15-darter and then follow a 124 checkout in the third set with a 12-dart leg to move 2-1 ahead.

The tight contest was closing in on a decider when Noppert moved into a two-leg advantage in the fourth set, but Joyce held throw in the next and wrapped up a famous victory with back-to-back 13-darters.

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The final match of the evening also delivered more darting drama, with Damon Heta coming back from a set down to produce four ton-plus finishes and threaten the perfect finish on his way to a 3-1 victory over Connor Scutt.

Heta found eight perfect darts before missing the D12 for the nine-darter, just like Littler earlier in the evening, with the Australian then squandering five more match darts on the same number before eventually finding the double required.

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Dobey and Dolan book spots in next round

The afternoon session saw Brendan Dolan set up a massive third-round clash with Michael van Gerwen after a straight-sets win over Lok Yin Lee, while world no 15 Chris Dobey held off a fightback from Alexander Merkx to claim a 3-1 victory and also reach the last 32.

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Dolan fired a 106 finish to edge a tight opening set in a final-leg decider and breezed through the second, with the Northern Irishman firing 13 and 14-dart legs during the third set - where he averaged over 113 - to extend his 17th consecutive World Championship appearance.

Dobey took control of his contest by winning six of the first seven legs on his way to a two-set advantage, only to see Merkx claim a clean sweep in the third set and break the Englishman in the opening leg of the fourth.

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Merkx run was ended by a sensational 122 checkout by Dobey, who held throw in the next leg before closing out another impressive victory by firing back-to-back 180s on his way to a 12-darter.

The opening match of the day saw debutant Rhys Griffin thrash Karel Sedlacek in straight sets and book a second-round meeting with Josh Rock, while Alexis Toylo also pulled of a big win on debut and will now play Krzysztof Ratajski after a shock 3-0 success over Richard Veenstra.

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What's next?

There are eight more second-round matches on Sunday, with defending European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse headlining the afternoon session against Ian White and Joe Cullen up against Wessel Nijman.

Ryan Searle faces Matt Campbell in the opening fixture of the day and Dirk van Duijvenbode plays Madars Razma, before former world champion Gary Anderson begins his tournament in the evening session against Jeffrey de Graaf.

UK Open winner Dimitri Van den Bergh goes up against Dylan Slevin in the evening session, which begins at 7pm, while Martin Schindler takes on Callan Rydz and Ross Smith entertains Paolo Nebrida.

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