Sporting Life
Beau Greaves and Luke Littler
Beau Greaves and Luke Littler

Darts results: Beau Greaves stuns Luke Littler in epic encounter to reach the World Youth Championship final

By Sporting Life
Darts
Tue October 14, 2025 · 2M ago

Beau Greaves underlined her star potential by taking the biggest scalp of them all as she booked her place in next month's PDC's World Youth Championship final.

The trailblazing three-time WDF Women's World Champion and two-time PDC Women's World Matchplay champion came up against Luke Littler in the semi-finals in Wigan and held her never in a deciding leg to pull off a sensational 6-5 victory.

Many darts fans questioned whether Littler, who won his seventh PDC major at the World Grand Prix on Sunday, should even be competing in this event having achieved so many historic feats in the senior ranks but at the age of 18, he's technically eligible until he's 24.

However, despite averaging 107 and coming within the width of a wire of nine-darter in leg four, his plan was foiled by a breathtaking performance from Greaves as she averaged 105 and held her nerve in a deciding leg by taking out 84 with her opponent waiting on 32.

The pair had met once before on the PDC circuit in August where Littler won but they will soon be playing each other regularly after Greaves earned a Tour Card for next season due to her success on the PDC's Development Tour.

Littler paid tribute to her on Instagram stories, saying: “You best not to be taking that tour card!”

Heaping more praise on Greaves, he added: “I had two 10 dart legs, missed D12 for a nine and still couldn’t win. Fair play to Beau Greaves, all the best in Minehead, some talent.”

Greaves will now meet defending champion Gian van Veen in Minehead on November 23 where she'll bid to become the first female to win the PDC's world youth title.

It will be televised on ITV 4 and staged shortly before the climax of the Players Championship Finals.

The event began with a round-robin format on Monday, as 128 of the world's top youth talents were split into 32 groups of four, with the top two players from each group advancing to the knockout phase.

The Doncaster trailblazer opened her challenge with a hat-trick of wins in the round-robin phase, whitewashing American Joseph Lynaugh before recording successive 5-2 wins against Noah Roeschlein and Keanu van Velzen.

Following a six-leg blitz of Coby Jones-Swanson in her opening knockout game, Greaves stormed through to the last 16 with a 6-2 success against Dutchman Danny Jansen, a former ProTour winner back in 2022.

The 21-year-old was then forced to overturn a 4-2 deficit against Tyler Thorpe, reeling off four consecutive legs in 14, 15, 13 and 15 darts to average north of 99 and create a quarter-final tie with Germany’s Liam Maendl-Lawrance.

Greaves defied a brief rally from Maendl-Lawrance to set up a blockbuster clash against Littler, where she produced one of the best displays of her darting career to maintain her bid for further televised silverware.

Van Veen, meanwhile, is bidding to join Dimitri Van den Bergh in claiming back-to-back World Youth Championship titles, after preserving his hopes of retaining the crown with a 6-4 success against Poland's Sebastian Bialecki in the last four.

The 23-year-old kicked off his title defence with a statement display against his compatriot Wessel Tempelaars, averaging 107.36 to triumph in five straight legs.

Van Veen completed a clean sweep in the round-robin phase with victories against Zac Prince and Ronan McDonagh, which he backed up with resounding wins over his fellow countrymen Damian Vetjens and Jeffrey Keen.

The Dutchman then survived a major scare in edging out Ireland's Aidan O'Hara in the last 16, although normal service was resumed when he averaged 99 to dispatch Development Tour winner Cam Crabtree 6-2 in the quarter-finals.

Bialecki established a 3-2 lead following a tentative start to their semi-final, but a three-leg burst of 14, 11 and 15-darters saw Van Veen become the first player to qualify for three consecutive World Youth Championship finals.

Van Veen was beaten by Littler in the 2023 decider, and the pair looked destined to renew their rivalry in next month's showpiece after the Warrington wonderkid landed five ton-plus averages throughout the day.

Littler's highest average of the tournament was a 108.59 in his group stage win against Icelandic talent Alexander-Veigar Thorvaldsson, where he wrapped up proceedings with legs of 11 and 10 darts.

The World Champion then conceded just three legs against Tom Garfield and McDonagh to book his spot in the last 16, where he fought back from 5-3 adrift to topple rising star Charlie Manby, surviving match darts in the process.

Both players averaged over 102 in a contest littered with quality, and Littler continued that sparkling form to complete a 6-1 demolition of Jamai van den Herik in the last eight, converting 160 and 164 finishes along the way.

Nevertheless, Littler lost out at the same stage as Poland's number two Bialecki, who had fired in an 11-dart leg to topple former UK Open semi-finalist Keane Barry in a dramatic quarter-final.

More to follow...

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