Littler fights past White and into Worlds fourth round

PA Media

Callum Matthews

BBC Sport senior journalist

28 December 2024, 23:05 GMT

Updated 35 minutes ago

Teenager Luke Littler made it through to the fourth round of the PDC World Darts Championship despite a below par performance against Ian White.

The 17-year-old won 4-1 but the scoreline does little justice to the scrap Littler endured to progress.

He survived set darts in the first – where he danced along with the Alexandra Palace crowd who were cheering for White – and fourth sets.

There were moments of brilliance from the fourth seed too, including needing just 39 darts to clean sweep the third set, where he averaged 115.

Littler, who was the pre-tournament favourite, showed an unusual outpouring of celebration when he claimed the fourth set too, before he won the fifth 3-1 to seal victory.

It took his average to 97.84 and above 54-year-old White, who said he used to beat Littler’s grandad on the pub circuit in Runcorn in the 1990s in the build-up.

Littler will face unseeded Ryan Joyce, who he has never played before, in the fourth round on Monday.

“It was tough. Ian threw everything at me. If I hit a 180, he hit a 180 so I always had to stay switched on,” Littler told Sky Sports.

“I wouldn’t say there were nerves, it was a case of settling in quick.

“When you’re 3-1 up going into the last break, you have that feeling that you’re only three legs away and that’s what I said to myself.

“I watched Ryan’s game and he was very good. I’ve got to hit those doubles – 35% is not going to get me anywhere – but I know what’s gone wrong.”

Van Gerwen and Dobey progress

Michael van Gerwen celebrates against Brendan Dolan in the PDC World Darts Championship third round

Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen is also through to round four after a 4-2 win over 30th seed Brendan Dolan.

Northern Ireland’s Dolan won the opening set on throw, before Dutchman Van Gerwen claimed the second.

That started a run of eight legs on the spin to put the third seed 3-1 up.

He was in scintillating form in the fourth set, averaging 118.66, but that dropped to just 84 in the fifth set won by Dolan.

Van Gerwen threw some wayward darts in the next set and was again guilty of missing doubles, before he sealed the win.

The game summed up Van Gerwen’s year – sublime moments but also lapses that would likely be punished by the very best as the tournament progresses.

He will face Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf or Paolo Nebrida from the Philippines, who are both unseeded, in round four.

“It was tough, it was really hard and a really difficult game,” Van Gerwen told Sky Sports.

“Everybody can see he never gives up and you have to try and punish him at the right moments, and I wasn’t capable of doing it.

“There is a lot of work still to do and I know I’m capable of doing it. I’m looking forward to the next round and let it roll on.”

The opening game of the evening saw 15th seed Chris Dobey beat 18th seed Josh Rock 4-2.

Northern Ireland’s Rock led 1-0 and 2-1 before Dobey improved and got into his groove as the match progressed.

He won the fourth set 3-0, before Rock missed set darts on double tops in the fifth.

Dobey then won the sixth set with a double-double finish, to set up a fourth-round tie against the Netherlands’ Kevin Doets or Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski.

Many had predicted a close match with just £250 splitting the pair in the PDC’s Order of Merit and it played out like that, but Dobey’s consistent scoring – he averaged 97.29 – and a checkout percentage of 45.2 saw him through.

The afternoon session saw Joyce shock 20th seed Ryan Searle, while Ricardo Pietreczko and 12th seed Nathan Aspinall also progressed.