Luke Littler put on a sensational show as he fought back against Mike De Decker to secure a 10-9 victory and book his spot in the Grand Slam quarter-finals.
De Decker got off to an incredible start, averaging over 116 and breaking Littler twice to take a 4-3 lead, the noise of a Littler-backing crowd not fazing him.
Littler then found a crucial break of his own to bring the game level at 4-4, but De Decker broke straight back as the 17-year-old could not find the bullseye to finish off his checkout, the World Grand Prix champion silencing the fans.
A 110 checkout from De Decker under pressure then broke the Premier League champion again as he cemented a 7-4 advantage, ‘The Real Deal’ moving 8-4 up with a clutch final dart on tops.
Littler was finding maximums and scoring highly but De Decker kept him shut out with his accuracy until a slip-up in the 14th leg gave ‘The Nuke’ a break to bring the game to 8-6, Littler then holding his throw on tops as the game was on a knife’s edge at 8-7.
With nerves jangling, De Decker managed to hold his throw to put himself one leg away from a momentous victory but Littler was in he zone and firing in maximums for fun, breaking De Decker on D6 to take the match to a deciding leg.
From there, Littler continued to hit the T20 in sensational style and as the crowd reached fever pitch, he left 86 for the win and nailed it on D8.
“I don’t know if I enjoyed that. I’ve got to feel for Mike. I didn’t think I was in the game, but I know I can always switch that gear,” Littler told Sky Sports.
“Early on I was at my normal pace but towards the end I was taking an extra second, and that helped me – I might have to throw like that from now on.
“Coming onto the stage (for the last session), I didn’t think I could overturn the deficit. I just cannot believe it.”
Gary Anderson also booked his spot in the last eight with a clinical 10-6 win against Stephen Bunting.
The game went with the throw in a tight opening session, Anderson finding a lovely 114 checkout to go in with a 3-2 lead.
In the second session though the ‘Flying Scotsman’ had the momentum and took real control as Bunting struggled on the doubles, winning five legs on the spin to romp into an 8-2 advantage, picking up two big breaks on the way.
Bunting still was fighting and managed to claw the score back to 8-5 but a huge 138 checkout from Anderson against the throw put him one leg away, finally taking out 103 to get into his 10th Grand Slam quarter-final.
Gian van Veen put in a ruthless performance against Ryan Joyce to set up his quarter-final clash with Anderson.
Van Veen battled into a 3-2 lead, a first-leg break of throw helping him get on top in what was a close clash early on.
The Dutchman was averaging over 108 and continued to motor though, back-to-back breaks of throw then stretching his lead to 7-2, a fifth leg on the spin then taking his advantage to 8-2 at the second break.
It wasn’t long until he had picked up two more legs to wrap up the dominant win, hitting 59 per cent of his doubles on the way in a sublime showing.
Jermaine Wattimena survived eight match darts from Dimitri Van den Bergh to set up a clash with Littler.
Van den Bergh got off to an incredible start in his match and took just 10 minutes to romp through the first session, taking the first four legs with a 107 checkout and two breaks of throw to lead 4-1 at the break.
However, Wattimena fought back incredibly in the second session to bring the match level at 5-5, back-to-back bullseye finishes piling the pressure on Van den Bergh.
That didn’t keep Van den Bergh down though and he battled hard to bring the match back level at 9-9 to take it to a deciding leg but then missed eight chances to take the win, Wattimena finally pinning D8 for a huge victory.
What’s next?
Friday at the Grand Slam of Darts sees the first of two quarter-finals as Mickey Mansell takes on Cameron Menzies and Martin Lukeman faces Rob Cross. You can watch live on Sky Sports from 7pm.
