Luke Littler has continued his incredible debut campaign at the World Championship by posting a 4-1 victory over Matt Campbell.
The 16-year-old had already impressed with victories over Christian Kist and Andrew Gilding, but he is now through to the last 16 with an impressive win over an opponent who had defeated James Wade in the previous round.
Little averaged in excess of 112 to win the second set, hitting a 130 checkout on the way to taking a 2-0 lead, yet he only took the third through Campbell not converting a 2-0 advantage.
After Littler missed a match dart, Campbell won the fourth set, but in a high-quality fifth, Little hit a 164 checkout and averaged over 110 to get over the line.
LITTLER GOES ON, AGAIN 🤯
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 27, 2023
It's another breathtaking display from Luke Littler as he smashes Matt Campbell 4-1 to reach the Fourth Round at Alexandra Palace.
It will be Raymond van Barneveld or Jim Williams, next!
How far can he go?
📺 https://t.co/f3RU9WTIoD#WCDarts | R3 pic.twitter.com/IZm6m3Ypef
Michael van Gerwen had a much more straightforward passage as he cruised to a 4-0 triumph over Dutch compatriot Richard Veenstra.
While Veenstra took four legs during the opening three sets, he never posed a sustained threat to Van Gerwen, who hit eight maximums, hit 12 of his 19 attempts at double and posted a 101.39 average.
In the final game of the day, defending champion Michael Smith overturned an early deficit to run out a 4-1 victor over Madars Razma, showing his class in the fifth set to avoid any further alarms against the Latvian.
Smith averaged in excess of 94 to overcome the challenge of the 32nd seed, hitting seven maximums along the way.
Darren Plant
