Luke Littler held his nerve to beat fellow Englishman Ross Smith 6-5 in the World Series of Darts Finals first round.
Littler averaged 103.3 on his World Series of Darts Finals debut, but relinquished a 5-3 lead as a typically dogged Smith forced a last-leg shoot-out.
Former European champion Smith had two chances to triumph in the deciding leg but he missed double 13 and then double four, and Littler punished him by completing a 51 finish.
“I’m glad to get over the line,” admitted Littler, who reeled off four legs in just 50 darts to come from 3-1 down to lead 5-3. “Ross let me in and I took my chance.”
The 17-year-old’s quest for an £80,000 top prize in Amsterdam will continue on Saturday, and he has already underlined his desire to win.
“It’s been great to be on the World Series this year,” said world championship runner-up Littler. “I enjoyed Bahrain and won my first PDC title and then won in Poland, so it shows why I should be No 1 seed.
“I’d love to win this one as the No 1 seed and go into the autumn with a win.”
Littler will now face Raymond van Barneveld after the Dutch legend delighted his adoring faithful at AFAS Live with a 6-0 rout of Sweden’s Johan Engstrom.
Saturday evening’s mouth-watering second round clash will give Van Barneveld the chance to avenge his 2023/24 World Championship loss to Littler in front of a sell-out crowd in Amsterdam.
World Series Finals 2018 runner-up Van Barneveld landed three 180s and restricted Engstrom to just two double attempts in a dominant display as he eased into the last 16.
Van Barneveld received a tremendous welcome at AFAS Live, and admitted: “The crowd are always backing me because in their mind, I’m a legend – but you still need to do it.
“You have to rely on yourself and take your chances and keep on putting him under pressure all the time.
“Playing for your home crowd is fantastic, but tomorrow you play a guy who can play like Phil Taylor! He’s fantastic – I’m really looking forward to it.
“I know what I need to do to beat him, to play my A-game and maybe even more than my A-game. If you play well you always get chances, but you have to take them.”
Litter is also looking forward to taking on the home favourite in the Netherlands.
“Me and Raymond will both be confident and I’ll go into the game wanting to win, just like tonight,” added Littler.
“I’ll just play my darts – in the worst case I’ll have to switch on the gears again like I did tonight, but I’ll have to try to get off to a good start tomorrow.”
The second round will take place on Saturday evening, followed by the quarter-finals on Sunday afternoon ahead of the semi-finals and final in Sunday’s decisive evening session.
Reigning world champion Luke Humphries beat Haupai Puha 6-3, while defending champion Michael van Gerwen defeated Jonny Clayton 6-4, as he looks to claim a sixth title.
Elsewhere, Chris Dobey produced a 132 finish to edge past Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-5, Damon Heta beat Gabriel Clemens by the same score, Stephen Bunting lost 6-4 to Croatia’s Boris Krcmar in an upset and Danny Noppert saw off Gian van Veen 6-3.
The first round concludes on Saturday afternoon, as 2022 champion Gerwyn Price meets Scottish star Cameron Menzies, while a resurgent Peter Wright plays last weekend’s European Tour winner Dave Chisnall.
Rob Cross – the winner at the US Darts Masters in June – takes on Australian veteran Simon Whitlock, world No 2 Michael Smith plays Portugal’s Jose de Sousa and 2022 runner-up Dirk van Duijvenbode begins his campaign against Daryl Gurney.
The 2024 BoyleSports World Grand Prix is next on the Sky Sports darting calendar.
The annual £600,000 tournament will take place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester from October 7-13, as 32 of the world’s top stars compete for the coveted title which was won by Luke Humphries.
Humphries celebrated his maiden TV ranking title with victory over Gerwyn Price in last year’s tournament, and the world No 1 will return to defend his title later this year.
Six-time champion Michael van Gerwen is also set to star, with teenage superstar Luke Littler poised to make his double-start debut in the East Midlands.
In a change to last year’s format, Saturday’s semi-finals on October 12 will be contested over the best of nine sets, with the final set to be played over the best of 11 sets on Sunday, October 13.
Here’s a look back at last year’s thrilling World Grand Prix final in Leicester
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