The English darts super talent Luke Littler made it to the quarter-finals at the World Championships in London after a great fight. In the last game of the year, the 17-year-old title contender fought his way to a 4-3 win against his strong compatriot Ryan Joyce and remains one of the top favorites for the most important trophy in the darts world.
In the round of the last eight, Littler now has to face Nathan Aspinall. The Englishman had eliminated the last remaining German in the lunch session.
Littler, on the other hand, was immediately there, started with a 180 and also started with the highest possible score in the second leg. Littler immediately took a 1-0 lead. But then he received a break and came under pressure when Joyce equalized the set.
The third round went to Littler again. Nevertheless, he had to accept the 2:2 and left the stage shaking his head. With the score at 3-2, Littler already had a match dart but couldn’t use it and Joyce forced him into extra time. There, Littler immediately broke through his 39-year-old opponent’s throw and finally converted his fourth match dart.
“Pikachu’s” World Cup journey ends hard
Ricardo Pietreczko’s World Cup trip ended in the afternoon with a violent belly landing. There was a clear 4-0 defeat against world number 12 Nathan Aspinall (England) in the round of 16, meaning the last of the six Germans was also eliminated.
Reaching the round of 16 is probably the greatest success of Pietreczko’s career. The Nuremberg resident has so far won his only title on the PDC Pro Tour in 2023 German Darts Championship fetched. Opponent Aspinall may now face a New Year’s clash against 17-year-old prodigy Luke Littler in the quarter-finals, provided the young Englishman can prevail against Ryan Joyce on Monday evening.
“Today wasn’t my day. I don’t know, it didn’t go well from the start”said Pietreczko on “Sport1”: “In the end it doesn’t matter: I was in the round of 16 of the World Cup, no one can take that away from me.” Aspinall also noticed his opponent’s poor performance. “He didn’t play to the best of his ability” said the Englishman.
Mats Nickelsen, Sportschau, December 30, 2024 6:18 p.m
“Pikachu” doesn’t find its way into the game
In atmospheric Ally Pally Pietreczko (30) couldn’t get going at all. He missed an initial chance to break and was rarely able to throw high numbers. Aspinall also had to find his way into the duel, but he then became stronger and had better nerves in the crucial moments. In the last few games this had been Pietreczko’s strength.
Pietreczko laughs at himself
Aspinall had previously teased his opponent. In his opinion, Pietreczko was “a great darts player, but a strange character”. In general, he rarely seemed happy with his throws on stage – even if he kept smiling after poor shots and a quick 0-2 deficit – which was probably just an expression of self-irony. Pietrezcko’s statement after the game matched this: “In the end, the strange player lost.”
Pietreczko also received a quick break in the third set, and shortly afterwards threw his first 180. But it didn’t help, this round also went to Aspinall. The Englishman then left no stone unturned and confidently threw Pietreczko out.
Rydz and Dobey continue
Also in the lunch session, the Dutchman Kevin Doets was eliminated by Chris Dobey (3:4). Doets had previously eliminated, among others, the 2023 world champion Michael Smith.
Callan Rydz, who had already knocked Germany’s number one Martin Schindler out of the tournament, celebrated a strong comeback against Gabriel Clemens’ conqueror Robert Owen, turning a 0-2 into a 2-2 and forcing his opponent to a 4th over the full length :3.
Van Gerwen weakens briefly, but then comes up trumps
Michael van Gerwen moved into the quarter-finals on Monday. The 35-year-old Dutchman beat Swedish underdog Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2 and will face Englishman Callan Rydz in the round of the last eight. Van Gerwen is in the quarter-finals of the most important darts tournament for the eleventh time.
Michael van Gerwen during the Darts World Cup
Van Gerwen appeared dominant at the start against the world number 81 and quickly converted his first set dart to make it 1-0. He then got an important break and continued to pull away. In the third set, van Gerwen stumbled a little and de Graaf turned up the heat. The 34-year-old was finally able to make it 2-2. Despite his temporary low, van Gerwen finally recovered and converted his fourth match dart.
Van Gerwen three-time champion
He won the World Cup for the first time in 2014 as the youngest player to date. This was followed by two more titles in 2017 and 2019. The last time he was in the final was two years ago, and last year he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the first game of the evening session, Stephen Bunting had already won the English duel 4-0 against Luke Woodhouse and now has to face former world champion Peter Wright (Scotland), who had knocked defending champion Luke Humphries out of the tournament on Sunday.