Luke Littler booked his place in the quarter-finals of the TOTO Dutch Darts Masters as he eased to a 6-2 victory over Dirk van Duijvenbode on Friday.
The first-round match in Den Bosch saw the 17-year-old, who claimed his first televised senior title in last week’s Bahrain Darts Masters, average just under 91 but still did more than enough to secure a comfortable win.
Littler now faces a potential rematch of this year’s PDC World Darts Championship final with Luke Humphries, who takes on Jermaine Wattimena, in the last eight on Saturday.
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No 1 seed Littler set the tone with a 180 first up in the opening leg of the first-to-six encounter and went double 20, double 10 to take out 60 and establish an early lead.
A break of throw after finishing on double top saw the teenager go 2-0 up, but Van Duijvenbode broke straight back in the third leg with a double 10 finish to get on the board.
A 15-dart leg in the fourth saw Littler move two legs clear again with his second break of throw and that was followed by a hold to go 4-1 up.
Van Duijvenbode showed he was not done just yet as he held his throw in leg six to draw within two once more, but it proved a temporary revival as Littler won the next leg and clinched victory with a stylish 150 checkout.
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Earlier in the night, Raymond van Barneveld gave the Dutch fans something to cheer about as the five-time world champion edged out Rob Cross 6-5 in a thrilling contest.
Gian van Veen, who was runner-up to Littler in last year’s PDC World Youth Championship final, dumped Michael Smith out of the tournament with a 6-3 win, while Kevin Doets defeated Peter Wright 6-2.
Gerwyn Price also booked his place in the quarter-finals with a routine 6-2 win over Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Premier League Darts returns to Sky Sports on Thursday, February 1 as Cardiff kicks off the 17-week extravaganza all the way through to the Play-Offs on Thursday, May 23. Stream darts and more on Sky Sports without a contract through NOW