Luke Littler wins the World Series Finals! I’m just happy to be standing here with a trophy at the end of a long day, says 17-year-old darts player

One of the most prestigious tournaments of the darts season kicked off on Friday 13 September. Three days of play, a hall in Amsterdam and 32 players – that’s the Jack’s World Series of Darts Finals. The top seed was young Englishman Luke Littler, who confirmed his position by beating Michael Smith in the final.

• Littler was up against some tough opponents early on
• But as the tournament progressed, he played better and better
• Littler looks back on the year and is ready for more tournaments

Littler’s journey could have ended early on

In the first round, “The Nuke” faced compatriot Ross Smith. But despite more 180s and a higher average, Littler battled hard for the win. Smith wasn’t going to give him anything for free and the match went to 5:5 on leagues. In the end, however, the younger of the pair got the last leg on his side and could rejoice in advancing to the next round.

In the second round, Littler had another big challenge ahead of him. The fan favourite, the home team’s Raymond van Barneveld, a former world champion. He didn’t lose a leg in the first round. But the Dutchman couldn’t beat Luke for the second time either and had to say goodbye to the tournament after losing 4:6.

The quarter-finals promised longer battles. The match was played to ten leg wins. But this did not cause the Englishman much more problems and he defeated another compatriot, Chris Doby, 10:7. But the match was rich in 180s, of which there were nineteen in all.

The last two matches without any problems

The semi-final to 11 legged followed. There, a little surprise awaited the young talent, as the world number one Luke Humphries, after a great fight, was not able to keep up with the home team’s Michael van Gerwen, who decided only in the last possible leg.

But The Nuke didn’t stay with the world number three for long. With a great average of 107.95 and eight maximums, he crossed MVG all too quickly with a ratio of 11:4. In his first appearance in this tournament, he immediately advanced to the final.

In the final, he was awaited by world number two Michael Smith. He held on for a while, but from 3:3 Littler won seven legos in a row and the winner was decided. The last stand was a great closing 170 to adjust the score to 10:4. After that Littler kept it together and dominated the tournament on his debut.

“I’m just happy to be standing here with the trophy at the end of a long day. I felt relaxed tonight and I played really well all weekend,” he said of his performance.

“This time last year I was playing on the Development Tour; my name was mentioned, but after the World Championship everyone knew who I was. I’m going to keep building on that and win more; it’s a busy schedule and I’m ready for it,” Littler added.

Source: PDC