He has been a professional player for barely 22 months and yet he has already amassed a record of success that is the envy of the vast majority of darts players. And rightly so. Littler has already won almost everything there is to win.
Things went smoothly for a long time in this final. The score was 9-9 when Littler pressed the accelerator a little further. Before Humphries knew it, he was suddenly 15-10 in debt. He was still able to win one leg, but in the end Littler was able to take the victory.
The fantastic finishes and averages prove that it was a high-quality final. Both men averaged around 100, but with a ten-dart finish from Humphries and a 167 and 160 finish from Littler, there is plenty of evidence that this was a high-quality final. There can only be one best and that is, for some time now, a certain Littler.
Noppert is no match for phenomenal Littler
Despite a great match, Danny Noppert was unable to beat Luke Littler in the semi-final of the Grand Slam of Darts. ‘The Nuke’ was too strong for ‘The Freeze’ with 16-9. With his victory, Littler is also the new number 1 in the world.
Noppert started his clash with Littler energetically. He surprisingly took a 3-1 lead. A few legs later, the Dutch darts player reached 6-4 with an amazing 171 finish.
TheFreeze especially had a fantastic finish and partly because of that they took an 8-6 lead. He went into the break with an 8-7 lead. De Fries threw impressively in this semi-final.
Noppert sublime on tops
Of course he threw against Littler, who broke Noppert again and came to 8-8. The Nuke had a chance at 10-8, but he missed. Noppert was sublime on tops this afternoon: 6 out of 6 and 9-9.
Of bullseye Littler came back to 10-9 and a little later to 11-9. After the break, The Freeze now had to come up with something to turn the tide.
The Nuke however, continued to dominate and reached 12-9. Noppert actually missed a chance at the top, that was the first time this afternoon. That cost him the leg: 13-9. Littler’s victory came closer. And with it a place in the final against Luke Humphries and the fact that by reaching the final battle he is certainly the new number 1 in the world.
Noppert actually found it impossible to adapt to the teenage phenomenon. In the end it became 16-9.
Humphries beats Price for place in final battle
Humphries was too strong for Gerwyn Price from Wales in a nice match with 16-13. Humphries started energetically. He went into the first stoppage with a commanding 4-1 lead after breaking Price on his own serve following an 86 finish.
Luke Humphries. © Dennis Goodwin/ProSportsImages
After the short break, Humphries again got off to a strong start. The Englishman threw 142 and took a comfortable 5-1 lead. Then Price got his act together and won four legs in a row to enter the second stoppage at 5-5.
Humphries recovered in the third session and led again when he entered the dressing room: 8-7. Even after that, the Englishman, who won the tournament in 2023, maintained his lead: 11-9.
Price did not give in and came back nicely to 11-11. It kept going up and down. Humphries broke back and was one leg ahead again, then held his own turn and broke Price again: 14-11.
It remained exciting. Price came back to 14-13 in legs, but eventually had to bow at 16-13. Humphries finished the match on his fourth match dart.
Danny Noppert qualifies for the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts, now against Luke Littler
Sunday November 16th
From 2 p.m
Semi-finals
From 7 p.m
Final