Luke Littler has progressed through to the PDC World Championship semi-finals with a 5-2 victory over Nathan Aspinall.
In a friendly - yet competitive - spirited contest between friends, the 17-year-old came through yet another test as he bids to make a second successive final.
Unlike in his previous games in this tournament, Littler started in imperious form, averaging 118.66 in taking the first set, and at one stage looked like blitzing his opponent.
To Aspinall's credit, he more than matched the teenage prodigy over the next four sets, sharing them at two apiece and threatening to take Littler into deep waters.
However, Littler - who hit an incredible 10 12-dart legs in the contest - responded to being pegged back to 4-2 by averaging 112.73 in the seventh set, taking his total of 180s to 15 in the process.
LITTLER INTO THE LAST FOUR!! ☢️
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 1, 2025
It's consecutive World Championship Semi-Finals from Luke Littler as he simply has too much for Nathan Aspinall in a 5-2 win.
101.54 average
15x 180s
45% on the doubles
Scary stuff from the 17-year-old 👏 pic.twitter.com/lJlrfUElAz
Bunting lies in wait
Littler will now face Stephen Bunting who withstood a revival from Peter Wright to eventually post a 5-2 win.
Bunting, who is provisionally up to fifth place in the PDC Order of Merit, raced into a 4-0 lead with Wright a shadow of the player that disposed of defending world champion Luke Humphries in the previous round.
The Scot rallied in sets five and six, hitting an astonishing 133 checkout with two double 19s to make it 4-2, but the emotion that came with celebrating that finish took its toll in the seventh.
Wright would average just 83.19 to allow Bunting to confidently seal his place in the last four, and possibly a spot in the Premier League which starts next month.
Earlier in the day, Chris Dobey and Michael van Gerwen came through two pulsating encounters against Gerwyn Price and Callan Rydz, prevailing by 5-3 scorelines.
Darren Plant
