Luke Littler ignites Premier League campaign with victory in Cardiff

By Phil Blanche, Press Association

Luke Littler ignited his BetMGM Premier League campaign by beating Jonny Clayton 6-4 to win night five in Cardiff.

Littler had won only one match in the opening four rounds, although he was awarded two points on night three after Michael van Gerwen withdrew through illness.

But the world number one returned to form, scoring heavily and hitting two 170 checkouts, to silence the raucous Cardiff crowd with wins over home favourites Gerwyn Price and Clayton.

Littler  – who missed a dart at double 15 in the final to repeat the nine-darter he hit in Cardiff last year – becomes the fifth different nightly winner in this season’s Premier League.

“It’s definitely a statement to everyone out there,” Littler said.

“When you’re not winning it’s not a nice feeling, but you’ve got to pick yourself up and this definitely gives me confidence going down to Minehead (UK Open).

“I’d rather go on stage without any practice, but I’ve put some hours in and then did my job.

“The final was a great game. I couldn’t hit the nine, but I’m close to it now. I felt just needed to win, do the hard work, and then in the final relax.”

Littler was far from his flowing best in beating Northern Ireland’s Josh Rock 6-4 in the quarter-final.

But the 19-year-old averaged 111.05 in his 6-3 semi-final victory over Price, and produced his first 170 ‘Big Fish’ checkout of the night.

Littler then prevailed in a high-calibre final that saw him average 106.40 and 11 180s hit, six from Clayton and five from the world champion.

He said: “I pulled it out of somewhere, got the win over Gezzy (Price) and moved on into the final.

“I say it every week ‘win that first game and get two points on the board’. But it’s been a fair few weeks since I’ve won a quarter-final game.

“It means a lot to go on and win it. You don’t usually see two (170 checkouts) in a night, and for myself to hit those two was a little bit special.

“I’ve seen a few people message me about not hitting the Big Fish, so hopefully a few people put bets on tonight and I’ve won them some money.”

Littler’s victory sees him join Price and Gian van Veen on nine points, five points behind leader Clayton.

The Welshman reached his fifth semi-final this year by beating Van Veen and Luke Humphries, who had dominated Van Gerwen 6-1 for his first-ever Premier League victory in Cardiff.

Price had recovered from a 3-1 deficit to beat Stephen Bunting 6-5.

Bunting had a match dart at double top in the last-leg decider, but it fell short and Price took advantage to add two points to his tally.