Luke Littler hits back in style as darts ace refuses to be upstaged by 18-yr-old

12 February 2024 , 17:18

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Luke Littler continued his red hot start to 2024 at the Players Championship (Image: 2024 BSR Agency)

Luke Littler made a smashing start to his career on the PDC Pro Tour by sailing into the last-16 in his first Players Championship on Monday.

The 17 year old darts sensation even hit a nine-darter en route to victory over Michele Turetta in Wigan.

Littler, who became a household name during a shock run to the final of the World Championship at the turn of the year, has been in excellent form in 2024. "The Nuke" beat Michael van Gerwen to win the Bahrain Masters in January, becoming the youngest player to hit a televised nine-darter in his quarter-final victory over Nathan Aspinall.

And his strong form continued as he was beaten by home favourite Van Gerwen in the final of the Dutch Masters last week.

His Darts Premier League showings don't count towards the world rankings, but his displays in the Players' Championship do, and Littler has been red hot.

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He beat Jim Williams 6-1 with an average of over 105 in his opening game, before breezing past Luke Woodhouse 6-3 in the second round. In the round of 32, Littler sent Turetta packing with a 6-1 victory, sealing the win with his second nine-darter already this year.

But, remarkably, he wasn't the only teenager to do so, with 18 year-old Leighton Bennett achieving the same feat on his debut.

Bennett, another teenage talent, threw the first nine-darter of the PDC Tour season - having qualified by winning the penultimate day of UK Q School in January, defeating Thomas Cromwell in the final in Milton Keynes - during his second round win over Lukas Wenig.

((Image: PDC))

Trailing 2-1 to Wenig, Bennett opened the fourth leg with two 180s. Then the former BDO world youth champion managed to throw a 141 finish to complete the nine-darter. Bennett would win the match 6-5 after the Englishman had earlier won 6-4 over Brett Claydon in the first round.

Northern Irishman Mickey Mansell also helped himself to a nine-darter during his second round match against Krzysztof Ratajski. The Pole led 2-0, but the next four legs all went to Mansell. Mansell then started the seventh leg with two 180 scores and then managed to complete the leg with a 141 check-out.

Shortly after, Littler, the hottest commodity on the darts scene right now, refused to be upstaged by either Bennett or Mansell, firing his nine-darter, on a day where an out-of-form Peter Wright was the day's biggest casualty.

Alex Turk