Defending champion Luke Littler lived up to his role as favorite at the 2026 Darts World Cup in the quarter-finals against Krzysztof Ratajski. The 18-year-old clearly won 5-0 against the “Polish Eagle” with loud cheers from the audience in London’s “Ally Pally” just a few days after his clear fan criticism.
“The Nuke” grabbed the first set with an exclamation point: When Ratajski threw in, Littler scored 170 points in the decider – and took the “Big Fish” straight to a 1-0 lead. The teenager once again expressed his joy at the mega finish, which was achieved for the twelfth time at the World Championships, with a loud scream towards the audience.
The show began for the semi-finals, where Ryan Searle is waiting for number one on the Order of Merit. “Heavy Metal” had already eliminated the Welshman Johnny Clayton 5:2 on Thursday afternoon. Despite his strong World Cup performances, the Englishman goes into the duel with Littler, who averaged 99.46 points against Ratajski, as an outsider.
Ratajski doesn’t punish a few Littler mistakes
The 18-year-old quickly grabbed the second set with two high finishes, and even after the second break the “Polish Eagle” didn’t have the slightest chance. Littler hardly allowed the 49-year-old a dart to hit the doubles fields, and after six perfect darts he made it 3-0 in the sets with eleven throws. Ratajski was also unable to take advantage of a small phase of weakness for the world champion in the fourth set.
With the score at 2:2, the Pole first narrowly missed a 167 finish, then the veteran missed two set darts on D8. Littler is there with the third attempt with 40 points remaining, meaning that the number 37 in the darts world’s last hope of a mega comeback disappeared before the third and final interruption.
Winning the fifth set was then just a formality for Littler, the top favorite for the title ended the game with his first match dart, a strong double rate of almost 56 percent (15/27) and ten 180s.
“The crowd was very good tonight – it’s New Year’s Day so there must be some new fans there,” Littler said after the obligatory winner’s interview on stage on Sky Sports. During his round of 16 win against Rob Cross, the young Englishman had a fight with the audience and criticized them heavily.