Luke Littler wins Premier League Darts Night 14 in Aberdeen and secures play-off spot; teenager eight points clear of Luke Humphries with two weeks of regular season to come; watch Week 15 in Leeds, live on Sky Sports from 7pm on Thursday May 9
Friday 3 May 2024 08:14, UK
Luke Littler wrapped up his Premier League Darts play-off spot by surging to a fourth nightly win of the season and second in a row as he beat Rob Cross in the Aberdeen final.
Table topper Littler, who leads second-placed Luke Humphries by eight points, guaranteed a top-four position by razing Michael Smith 6-1 in the semi-finals, a game in which he averaged 110 and enjoyed a checkout success of 86 per cent with three ton-plus finishes.
The 17-year-old then defeated Cross 6-4 in the Night 14 final, the same player he had knocked off to triumph in Liverpool a week earlier, as he added further to his back-to-back triumphs in Belfast and Manchester earlier in the competition.
Littler was fired up in Aberdeen, even shushing the crowd after he overcame Nathan Aspinall 6-5 in a nip-and-tuck quarter-final, in response to being whistled.
Humphries is also now assured of a spot in the play-offs at London's O2 Arena on Thursday May 23, despite his semi-final exit to Cross, whose hopes of gatecrashing the top four were boosted as he closed to within seven points of fourth-placed Michael van Gerwen.
Humphries had been given a bye into the semi-finals after his scheduled opponent, Gerwyn Price, withdrew due to a back injury, with Price no longer able to make the top four.
The two points world No 1 Humphries accrued for that walkover took him to 28 for the campaign and left Van Gerwen, Smith, Cross and Aspinall battling for the last two play-off berths across the final two weeks of the regular season, in Leeds on Thursday May 9 and Sheffield on Thursday May 16.
Littler, who has joined defending champion Van Gerwen on four nightly wins for the season, plays rock-bottom Peter Wright in the quarter-finals in Leeds, with Van Gerwen to meet Price - fitness-permitting - Humphries up against Cross, and Smith to battle Aspinall.
Third-placed Aspinall (25 points) missed one match dart in his loss to Littler, while Van Gerwen (24 points) also fell in the first round as Cross fought back from 5-4 down to win 6-5 and pick up a third successive victory over the Dutchman.
Scottish star Wright was unable to collect a win in front of his home fans as he was beaten 6-4 by Smith in the night's opening fixture - Bully Boy clinching victory with a 146 checkout - although Wright did get the crowd dancing as he walked out to Proclaimers classic 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)'.
Littler put in the display of the evening as he demolished Smith in the semis, forgetting his poor doubling in his narrow win over Aspinall by taking out finishes of 144, 124, 105 and 87.
He was given a stiff test by Cross in the final, with Voltage twice breaking back after losing a leg on his own throw, but Littler then broke Cross once more in a leg in which he threw seven perfect darts before his hopes of a nine-dart finish were scuppered by a wayward eighth.
Cross then missed a dart at a double as he threatened to take out 126 and force a deciding leg, with Littler subsequently stepping up to pin double 10 and move onto 36 points for the season.
Luke Littler, speaking to Sky Sports:
"I have settled into the Premier League. I have got used to the routine - [but I still don't think] I am the best player in the world.
"I can now settle in Leeds next week and then Sheffield and just play with freedom. I will aim to win the other two nights but if it's not to be it is all focused on London."
Sky Sports Darts' Wayne Mardle:
"I think Littler is playing the best in the world right now, although that changes all the time. Humphries has gone off the boil and Littler is getting better. Imagine how good he will be in five years?!
"He has a swagger. He seems to have come out of his shell [after Liverpool last week]. He is shushing the audience and there has been a change in him."
Premier League Darts continues on Thursday May 9, in Leeds. Watch live on Sky Sports Action from 7pm or stream with NOW.
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