Luke Littler path to PDC world title opens up as Michael van Gerwen crashes out

01 January 2024 , 20:43

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Luke Littler path to PDC world title opens up as Michael van Gerwen crashes out

Scott Williams produced one of the greatest Alexandra Palace upsets in recent history to dump Michael van Gerwen out of the World Darts Championship.

Van Gerwen had serenely progressed to the final eight, and was expecting to make light work of Williams in the quarters. But the Englishman capitalised on an error-strewn Van Gerwen performance to stun the three-time world champion, winning 5-3.

His defeat opens up the draw yet again and leaves Luke Littler a much clearer path to a stunning maiden title. The 16-year-old sensation is already in the last four after beating Brendan Dolan in comprehensive fashion.

Littler will face Rob Cross in Tuesday evening's semi final, but will now not have to contend with one of the greatest players of all time in a potential final. The teenage prodigy was unstoppable in the afternoon session, recording an average north of a hundred in an emphatic 5-1 victory.

And speaking after his win, the unseeded youth world champion said his dream was now getting very close. "If I keep it up, I've got a good chance," Littler told Sky Sports. "Now I am dreaming! I'm two games away. I'm definitely thinking about lifting the title."

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Littler added: "I'm glad to get here. I've earned it and my performances have been well. I've threw another 100+ average and my doubles are on 47 per cent, so it's gone well today as well."

But for as brilliant as Littler performed, it was a different story for Van Gerwen. The Ducthman had been in irrepressible form in the early rounds, not dropping a set in the opening three rounds.

Scott Williams celebrates after beating Michael van Gerwen

But it quickly became apparent this would be a different story as Williams took the opening three legs to grab the first set in impressive fashion. Van Gerwen came back to lead 2-1, but Williams snatched the final set before the mid-session break and that seemed to tilt the momentum his way.

The eighth set went down to a final-leg decider, and the confident Williams took his chance to nail a check out of 44 to leave the Ally Pally crowd speechless. And Williams admitted that he perhaps should have won in easier fashion after missing plenty of chances to make it an even more dominant victory.

"I've knocked two of the top 10 out already, he's [Van Gerwen] now provisionally number one, so I just knocked the best player in the world out. That wasn't the Van Gerwen we've seen in the last few matches, but that's not my problem. My job was to hit the doubles...I hit the doubles, I should have probably won that easier, but I didn't. Back tomorrow baby!"

Ben Husband