Sporting Life
Luke Littler admitted to not being a morning person - like many of his fellow teens
Luke Littler admitted to not being a morning person - like many of his fellow teens

Darts results: Luke Littler beats Dave Chisnall to reach UK Open quarter-finals

By Sporting Life
Darts
Sat March 02, 2024 · 2y ago

Luke Littler admitted to taking time to warm to the task as he came through both UK Open matches on Saturday.

The teen sensation hit a 152 checkout to go with his now customary three-figure average in beating Martin Schindler 10-8 before stepping it up a notch to see off Dave Chisnall 10-5 in a high-quality evening match.

It means he's through to Sunday's latter stages and is now three wins away from a first major PDC title in the event dubbed 'the FA Cup of darts' due to its open-draw format.

"I think if everyone didn’t know, they are going to know now that I am not a morning person," he said following his win against Chisnall.

"I did struggle this morning but I managed to get over the line against Martin.

"After that game, I chilled out, had some food, and I think played better in the evening.

"This morning I didn’t have breakfast and I was feeling sick because there was nothing in my stomach and my adrenalin was going.

"That first game was really hard to get over the line."

Asked to ponder what it would feel like to capture his first TV major, Littler added: "It would be unbelievable.

"I have not even thought about it, I will just take it game by game.

"That’s what every player has to do, play the game and if you are lucky enough to win you will go on to the next one."

Martin Lukeman produced the biggest surprise of the last 16 ties played on Saturday evening, producing a ruthless display of finishing to get the better of Gary Anderson 10-5.

There were convincing 10-4 wins for Luke Humphries and Rob Cross against Mervyn King and Keane Barry respectively.

In the final match of the night, Stephen Bunting battled hard to beat a dogged Peter Wright 10-9.

Whereas Wright had thrashed defending champion Andrew Gilding earlier in the day, Bunting had escaped in a final-leg decider and he did it again after Wright pegged him back to level from 9-6 down.

Bunting held firm with the throw, though, pinning tops at the first attempt.

UK Open: Saturday's results

SIXTH ROUND (Best of 19 legs)

  • Peter Wright 9-10 Stephen Bunting
  • Mervyn King 4-10 Luke Humphries
  • Jonny Clayton 7-10 Dimitri Van den Bergh
  • Damon Heta 10-8 Gian van Veen
  • Ricky Evans 10-6 Luke Woodhouse
  • Martin Lukeman 10-5 Gary Anderson
  • Rob Cross 10-4 Keane Barry
  • Luke Littler 10-5 Dave Chisnall

FIFTH ROUND (Best of 19 legs)

  • Gary Anderson 10-5 Chris Dobey
  • Luke Littler 10-8 Martin Schindler
  • Damon Heta 10-9 Nathan Aspinall
  • Benjamin Reus 3-10 Luke Humphries
  • Jonny Clayton 10-8 Ross Smith
  • Rob Cross 10-4 Josh Rock
  • Stephen Bunting 10-9 Kevin Doets
  • Peter Wright 10-1 Andrew Gilding
  • Ricky Evans 10-5 Mike De Decker
  • Michael Smith 9-10 Luke Woodhouse
  • Dave Chisnall 10-6 Mensur Suljovic
  • Vincent van der Voort 6-10 Dimitri Van den Bergh
  • Graham Usher 7-10 Gian van Veen
  • Martin Lukeman 10-9 Danny Noppert
  • Keane Barry 10-3 Ryan Meikle
  • Krzysztof Ratajski 9-10 Mervyn King

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