Luke Littler recorded a second straight nightly win in the Premier League by winning night eight in Newcastle.
The teenage sensation defeated Stephen Bunting and Rob Cross before defeating Luke Humphries 6-1 in the final, a victory which increased his haul of nightly wins to a staggering four for the year.
Speaking to Sky Sports after yet another triumph, Littler said: “I said to Luke there, I don’t know how we played that game, we were both tired, but that’s what happens when you have to play three games in a night, you can get tired, but I’m just glad that I dug myself over the line. As a player you should always be playing against the board, but I’m playing too well for them not to be playing against the board as well as me. I’ve got a few of them, just not Gezzy [Price].”
This was the first of two nights in which the quarter-final fixtures are decided on league positions instead of being scheduled. As a reward for being top, Littler got to face bottom of the league Stephen Bunting, who was still searching for a first win this year. To say The Nuke made light work of The Bullet would be an understatement. He survived a shaky moment in the first leg to break throw, and it was full steam ahead from that point onwards.
The world champion was on fire, and stormed into a 3-0 lead, before holding his throw with a first ton plus finish of the match, a 101, to put him within two of the match. There was to be no slowing down, as he comfortably took the next two legs, a 110 out in the final leg securing a 6-0 thrashing which sent the 18-year-old into yet another semi-final.
That match was the first whitewash in the Premier League since Michael van Gerwen defeated Nathan Aspinall on night eight in 2023. The result sums up what has been a miserable campaign for Bunting, who has gone halfway through the season without registering a win.
In the other quarter-finals, Rob Cross beat Gerwyn Price 6-2 in a huge clash in the top four race, Luke Humphries defeated Chris Dobey 6-3, and Nathan Aspinall got the better of Michael van Gerwen, winning a lest-leg decider to record a 6-5 victory.
Littler was to face the man he had played in the semi-final last week, that being Rob Cross. The Nuke started in just as impressive a fashion as he did in the quarters, roaring into a 3-0 lead, in a run which included a second leg break of throw.
The match then settled into a pattern of holds of throw, which with the scoreline as it was only warranted one outcome. The world champion wrapped up the victory in the ninth leg, finishing the match with a 6-3 scoreline, which set him up for a second straight nightly final.
The other semi-final saw Luke Humphries face off against Nathan Aspinall. It was a dramatic encounter, which went all the way, but it was Cool Hand who got over the line, recording a 6-5 victory, and setting up yet another final against Littler this campaign.
As in the two games before, the world champion began with a flurry. Two breaks and two holds to begin the match saw him storm into an impressive 4-0 lead. Humphries prevented the whitewash, by breaking back in the fifth leg to cut the gap to 4-1. It was to be a short lived restbite for Cool Hand however.
Littler immediately broke back, before he secured the victory in the next leg, with his first and only ton-plus checkout of the match, a 106, which was enough to secure a 6-1 demolition job over the world number one, and in the process record his fourth nightly win of the season.
Littler’s gap at the top of the league is extended to eight points, with The Nuke’s fourth win moving him on to 26 points. Humphries remains second, with a run to the final being his first few points in three weeks. They move him up to 18 points in total. Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price still round off the top four, but with both of them going out in the quarter-finals they remain on 13 points and 12 points respectively.
The second half of the league commences next week, with a trip to Europe in the offing when the players head to the German capital Berlin.