With a little more effort than expected, the high title favorite Luke Littler made it to the quarter-finals of the Darts World Cup. In the duel with Rob Cross, both played at an extremely high level.
The 18-year-old Englishman ultimately won 4-2 against his compatriot Rob Cross at London’s Alexandra Palace, but the “darts prodigy” found his first real endurance test at this World Championship in the 2018 world champion.
In the round of the last eight on Thursday evening, Littler will now face the winner of the duel between Luke Woodhouse (England) and Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland).
First set losses for Littler
On his way to his third final appearance in a row and his second title in a row, Littler, number one in the world since November, had previously held himself completely harmless.
After the usual strong start, “The Nuke” suddenly wobbled in the Ally Pally and lost the first set. As the match progressed, the duel even briefly threatened to tip in favor of the strong Cross.
Used first match dart
Littler, who didn’t seem as relaxed as usual, was already 1:2 behind in the sixth set, but then kept his nerve and closed the match. In the last set both played at the highest level and scored an average of almost 120 points. Overall, Littler had an average of 106.6, Cross was 98.9.