Teenager Luke Littler beat Belgium’s Mike de Decker 8-4 in Saturday’s last to win the Australian Darts Masters in Wollongong.
The world champion noticed off Australia’s Damon Heta 6-3 and world quantity 5 Stephen Bunting 7-4 on his technique to the title match.
De Decker was making his debut on the planet sequence and overcame world primary Luke Humphries – who was affected by sickness – 6-0 within the quarter-finals earlier than a 7-4 win over Chris Dobey secured his place within the last.
World Grand Prix champion De Decker recovered from two legs down early on to degree at 2-2 earlier than Littler received six of the subsequent eight legs to take the title.
“It felt excellent,” Littler, 18, instructed ITV Sport. “I knew if I received the primary recreation [against Damon Heta] it will be an extended night time and I’m very glad.”
Littler misplaced within the last of this occasion 12 months in the past, with Welshman Gerwyn Worth beating him 8-1, so his newest victory was notably candy.
It additionally got here in a marketing campaign the place till this second he had struggled to make his mark within the 2025 world sequence.
The English teenager mentioned: “It is not gone to plan to this point this 12 months on the planet sequence, however there’s loads of alternatives to win and I am glad I’ve acquired it carried out tonight.”
Travelling to Australia off the again of profitable the World Matchplay in Blackpool, Littler averted a significant upset on the opening night time as he received a final-leg decider 6-5 towards Haupai Puha.
The gamers will now journey to Auckland subsequent weekend for the one other world sequence occasion, the New Zealand Darts Masters.
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