Littler overcomes lively crowd to beat Noppert at World Series of Darts Finals

World No 1 Luke Littler came through a difficult first-round test against Danny Noppert at the World Series of Darts Finals; Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, James Wade and Nathan Aspinall also progressed to the second round

Sports Journalist @NigelCJourno

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Luke Littler battled past Danny Noppert and a lively Dutch crowd to reach the second round at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam.

Littler, who has won every major tournament this year, reacted to effectively an away crowd twice in a dramatic contest to beat Noppert 6-4 and keep his hopes of an unprecedented clean sweep alive.

It sparked memories of several nights at this year's Premier League Darts when Littler faced whistles and jeers throughout the series on his way to winning the title, revealing afterwards he wanted to quit the invitational event.

Noppert capitalised on a slow start by Littler to break in the third leg and held a 3-1 lead but the key moment came when he made a mess of a 44 checkout in the sixth leg which allowed Littler to break back and make it 3-3.

After winning that leg, Littler let out a huge roar and put his hands to his ears, asking the crowd for more noise as they booed him loudly.

Noppert missed two darts to restore his break advantage in the next leg and Littler punished him, then the teenager took out a superb 95 checkout with tops-tops to move 5-4 ahead and broke his opponent to win the match.

"Coming back from a losing position to win is always a great feeling," said Littler, who won the World Series of Darts Finals in 2024.

"I'm not putting pressure on myself. I am just focusing on round by round."

Should Littler win this weekend and win the following two tournaments, the World Grand Prix and European Championship, he would become the first player to hold every major darts title at the same time.

He would then set about trying to complete a remarkable clean sweep in November at the Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship finals, but he's taking things one match at a time and will next face Nathan Aspinall in the second round of this week's competition.

"Nathan always throws everything at me. He produces his best, I perform at my best, and hopefully it's another great game tomorrow," said Littler.

"It would be one of the best darts achievements if I could pull it off [the clean sweep], but it's still a very long way away."

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Unlike the first night when Michael van Gerwen was stunned by Daryl Gurney, there were no major surprises as the first round came to a conclusion on Friday.

Former world champion Gerwyn Price raced into a 5-0 lead against Brody Klinge but the Australian fought back to 5-4 before Price stumbled over the line.

It was a similar story for his compatriot Jonny Clayton as he was 4-0 up before missing several match darts on his way to a 6-3 win over Maik Kuivenhoven, who was called up as a late replacement for Lourence Ilagan after the Philippines player withdrew due to visa issues.

James Wade edged out Damon Heta 6-5 after the latter missed a match dart in their deciding leg, while Aspinall fought back from 4-2 down to defeat Raymond Smith 6-4.

Having won six Players Championship events this year, Wessel Nijman is looking to turn that great form into something big on the televised stage and he started off his World Series of Darts campaign with a 6-4 win over veteran Simon Whitlock.

And there were 6-5 narrow wins for Canada's Jim Long over Australia's Adam Leek, plus Alexandra Palace cult hero Motomu Sakai against Callan Rydz.

Friday September 18Round One x8Adam Leek 5-6 Jim LongMotomu Sakai 6-5 Callan RydzWessel Nijman 6-4 Simon WhitlockNathan Aspinall 6-4 Raymond SmithJames Wade 6-5 Damon HetaGerwyn Price 6-4 Brody KlingeLuke Littler 6-4 Danny NoppertJonny Clayton 6-3 Maik Kuivenhoven

Saturday September 19Afternoon Session - From 12pmJosh Rock vs Ryan SearleDaryl Gurney vs Ross SmithGian van Veen vs Karel SedlacekLuke Humphries vs Dirk van DuijvenbodeGian van Veen vs Karel Sedlacek

Evening Session - From 6pmJonny Clayton vs Motomu SakaiGerwyn Price vs Jim LongJames Wade vs Wessel NijmanLuke Littler vs Nathan Aspinall

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