World Darts Championship: Luke Littler eyes breaking Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price’s PDC nine-dart record | Darts News happymamay

Luke Littler remains the favorite to win the inaugural World Darts Championship title at Alexandra Palace, although time is running out for him to set a record which has become “frustrating”.

The teenager and last year’s runner-up kicked off his campaign with a 3-1 win over Ryan Mikel, recovering from a slow start to post a record average of 140.91 in the fourth and final set.

Littler’s 32-dart set included six perfect throws en route to an 11-dart opening leg, before he came agonizingly close to a nine-dart finish the next time around, missing D12 for what would have been his fifth nine-dart drive from his breakout drive.

The 17-year-old has scored nine darts at the Bahrain Darts Championship, Players Championship 1, Belgian Darts Open and the Premier League final in 2024, although he has missed several matches since then as he bids to become the first The best player in PDC history to make five nine-quarters in a year.

“It definitely got frustrating in a good way,” Littler admitted after his second-round win over Mikel, where there was the added pressure of knowing that shooting nine darts at the World Championship would result in one fan in the Ally Pally crowd winning by the pound. 60,000. “Obviously, once you switch to triple 19, your eyes light up.

“I heard the camera panning to the winner, so I’m sorry whoever you are! I’ll try again.”

His latest near miss comes on the heels of failed nine-dart attempts with the last two darts thrown against both Lawrence Ilagan and Jermaine Watimena on his run to a Grand Slam of Darts win in November – his 10th PDC title of the year.

Littler told reporters in Wolverhampton last month that he was considering alternative ways to close his leg after opening it with a perfect six-dart, although he said that was not on his mind during his attempt against Mikel.

“I didn’t even think about the 51,” Littler admitted. “Throughout the match, the shots on goal were good.

“I’ve left 265 a few times and hit the triple 19 pretty well, but I might have to take a moment to think about the triple 17.”

Will we see another nine quarters in worlds?

Martin Schindler and Damon Hita also failed to hit a perfect eight-dart leg during this year’s World Championship, while Christian Kist produced a maiden nine-dart leg in their 3-1 defeat to the Madras Razma on 18 December.

Kist took home the £180,000 Paddy Power bonus in The BIGGER 180 campaign with his amazing perfect leg, with the Dutchman taking home £60,000, charity partner Prostate Cancer UK took home the same amount and the remaining £60,000 went to a lucky random fan.

“I watched it at my friend’s house and never missed a session except in the evening when Ryan was on [Meikle] Fallon played [Sherrock]added Littler, who beat Kest en route to last year’s final in his debut.

“I just looked at my teammate and was like, ‘How did he do that? He wasn’t even close to last year!’ “It’s just to show how well he’s played this year, so he’s having a great offseason.”

Can Wyatt ram the ‘nuke’ into Alexandra Palace?

Littler remains on a collision course to face defending champion Luke Humphries in the semi-finals, with his next challenge facing Ian White in the third round on Saturday – and then facing the winner of either Ryan Joyce or Ryan Searle in the last 16.

White received a walk-off in the first round after Sandro Erik Sosing pulled out due to illness and shocked European Championship winner Richie Edhouse with a 3-1 win in the next round, with ‘Diamond’ now targeting the famous Alexandra Palace upset.

White said before the match: “Listen, the boy is talented and we all know that.” “He has put Darts on the map again. Everyone wants to come to Darts and this is the best thing that has ever happened to us.

“But I just want to say he’s from Runcorn – just like me – so he’s No. 2 and I’m No. 1!”

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