- Littler was tested by Dimitri Van den Bergh but edged past the Belgian 6-4
- He will now take on van Gerwen, who is the home favourite, on Saturday evening
- Luke Humphries’ poor run of form continued as he was convincingly beaten 6-3
Luke Littler set up a World Championship final rematch against Michael van Gerwen on Friday night as he edged past Dimitri Van den Bergh in the Dutch Darts Masters.
The teenager was playing his first match since turning 18 earlier this week, competing alongside a number of PDC representatives and selected Dutch and Belgian stars in the competition.
Last week, he was knocked out of the Bahrain Darts Masters in the quarter-finals, losing to a dominant Gerwyn Price, who went onto come second in the competition, losing to Stephen Bunting in the final.
He wasn’t at his best in Den Bosch, but averaged over 101 and hit five 180s in the game. Van den Bergh was also off the pace and started slow, but fired in the middle.
There were regular breaks of throw throughout, with four of the first six games going against the darts, and it did, at one point, look like the Belgian would win when he led 4-3.
But Littler broke when he needed to, and held his nerve to secure a 6-4 win and set up a mouthwatering clash against home favourite and defending champion van Gerwen.
Luke Littler has set up a World Championship final rematch against Michael van Gerwen at the Dutch Darts Masters
Littler beat now-home favourite van Gerwen 7-3 in the final at Ally Pally earlier this month
Luke Humphries, meanwhile, continued his poor run of form as he lost 6-3 against Jermaine Wattimena on Friday
Van Gerwen, who lost 7-3 to Littler in the Worlds final at the start of the year, didn’t play in Bahrain last week but was in fine form on Friday as he comfortably dispatched of countryman Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-1.
The home favourite averaged 95.53 and didn’t hit a 180 but was the better player on the night, with Saturday’s fixture against Littler also a rematch of last year’s final.
There were upsets, meanwhile, elsewhere, with world No 1 Luke Humphries losing 6-3 against Jermaine Wattimena.
It has been a tough few tournaments for Humphries, who went out early in the World Championship and lost in the quarter-finals in Bahrain last week too.
Elsewhere, Rob Cross bounced back from his first-round defeat in Bahrain by beating Richard Veenstra 6-3 in the opening match of the night.
After that, Kevin Doets continued his fine form as he upset Nathan Aspinall, thrashing the Brit 6-1 with a 94.79 average.
World Championship semi-finalist Chris Dobey was beaten by former world champion Roman van Barneveld in a last-leg decider, while the champion in Bahrain, Stephen Bunting, needed another last-leg game to better Gian van Veen, who averaged over 105 to Bunting’s 102.06.
Price, meanwhile, beat Danny Noppert 6-2 before van Gerwen and Littler booked their spots in the last-eight.
