Luke Littler crashes out of darts' World Grand Prix as favourite exits at first hurdle

Teenage sensation Luke Littler was favourite to triumph the double-start lawsuit but contempt hitting six 180s, helium averaged nether 95 and was beaten by 2018 satellite champion Rob Cross

Luke Littler crashed retired astatine the archetypal hurdle connected his World Grand Prix debut arsenic helium was beaten by Rob Cross.

Seventeen-year-old Littler was the favourite to triumph the double-start lawsuit and contempt registering six 180s, helium was beneath his champion and averaged a fraction implicit 94 arsenic Cross claimed a 2-1 victory. Cross, the 2018 world champion who has not gone past the 2nd circular successful 7 erstwhile tries successful this tournament, had an 80 per cent occurrence complaint connected the finishing doubles to assertion triumph successful Leicester.

“My grounds successful this tourney isn’t great, truthful I’m delighted to get implicit that winning line,” Cross told the PDC’s authoritative website. "I struggled successful the archetypal set, but past I started to find my bushed and I felt precise coagulated connected my ain throw, which gives maine assurance for the adjacent fewer days."

Cross volition adjacent instrumentality connected Martin Schindler, who bagged a 2-0 triumph implicit erstwhile finalist Brendan Dolan.

Defending champion Luke Humphries survived a large scare successful his opening brushwood and was 1 limb distant from being dumped retired by Stephen Bunting. Humphries mislaid the archetypal acceptable and trailed 2-0 successful the second, but rallied to triumph 3 consecutive legs to unit a decider. The satellite fig 1 past reeled disconnected 3 retired of 4 legs for a hard-fought 2-1 win.

“These are the games you unrecorded for” said Humphries, who adjacent takes connected Ricardo Pietreczko successful the last-16. “Stephen was precise unlucky there. He was the amended subordinate overall, but I ne'er gave successful and that is simply a existent champion’s attitude.

“As soon arsenic I won the archetypal leg, I knew the accidental was there, and I worked incredibly hard to get myself backmost into the game.”

Pietreczko claimed a 2-1 triumph implicit five-time satellite champion Raymond van Barneveld, portion satellite fig 5 Nathan Aspinall was objective successful the last leg, executing treble 3 to checkout and bushed Ryan Searle 2-1.

Wales’ Jonny Clayton eased to a 2-0 triumph implicit Ritchie Edhouse, Ryan Joyce bushed 23-year-old Josh Rock by the aforesaid scoreline, arsenic did Ross Smith, who averaged astir 102, implicit Gian van Veen.