Littler Advances to Quarterfinals in Dramatic Fashion

World champion Luke Littler defeated Nathan Aspinall 10-9 in a tense match to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam. The final leg saw Littler, 19, come from behind to clinch the win.

Trailing 9-8 in the best-of-19 contest, Littler forced a deciding leg by holding his throw in the 18th. He then secured the victory by hitting his seventh 180 of the match and checking out 58 in a 12-dart final leg. This win follows a previous classic encounter between the two Englishmen at the World Matchplay in July, where Littler threw a nine-dart finish on his way to an 11-8 victory.

"The pace of the game suits us both, we're good friends and we bring the best out of each other," Littler said. "I only played well in the last session [from 6-6 onwards]. In the first two sessions, I didn't feel confident but I managed to get it to 6-6 and I was very good in the third."

Littler is set to face former Premier League champion Jonny Clayton in the quarterfinals. Clayton advanced by defeating Motomu Sakai of Japan 10-8. Gerwyn Price, another Welsh player, also progressed with a 10-5 win over Jim Long of Canada. James Wade of England completed the evening's winners by defeating Wessel Nijman of the Netherlands and will face Price in the next round.