World Matchplay Darts: Luke Littler hits-nine darter in epic 11-8 win over Nathan Aspinall as Michael van Gerwen beaten | Darts News

Luke Littler and Nathan Aspinall produced a World Matchplay epic, with the world No 1 hitting a nine-darter on the way to a mesmerising 11-8 win at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Littler’s nine-darter came in the opening leg, which marks the second time he has found perfection against Aspinall in the first leg after the Bahrain Darts Masters in 2024.

His 113.68 is the second-highest average that has ever been recorded at the World Matchplay, just behind Phil Taylor’s 114.99 in 2010. He also hit 14 180s in the contest.

In what was the epitome of ‘start as you mean to go on’, world No 1 Littler hit two 180s, then pinned T20, T17, and D15 to send the Winter Gardens into a frenzy with his perfect leg.

After backing that up with a 14-darter, it looked like Littler was going to find perfection once again in the fourth leg but was denied when his ninth dart went wide on D15, Aspinall jokingly offering his darts to the crowd for them to come and try and play against such a ridiculous standard.

Despite Littler’s opening session antics and 117 average, Aspinall showed his grit to hold his throw and go in at the break only one leg behind.

Indeed, Aspinall continued to play incredible darts too and ensured the second session went with throw, which saw ‘The Nuke’ go in just 6-4 ahead at the second break.

It looked like Littler had held off a battling Aspinall when he took three legs on the bounce, with two breaks of throw, to move 10-7 ahead.

But in typical Aspinall fashion, he reeled in the ‘Big Fish’ under the most intense of pressure to hit back and move to 10-8.

Although ‘The Asp’ came through with that moment of brilliance, Littler was not fazed and, in the 19th and final leg, took out 52 on tops to wrap up an enthralling battle in Blackpool.

‘The best game me and Nathan have ever played’

“It felt amazing. Probably the best game me and Nathan have played against each other,” Littler told Sky Sports.

“I just saw the averages there, 113 for me, 101 for Nathan.

“Six trebleless visits in 21 legs shows how well I did play.

“Nathan gave it his all, and when I missed D5 I knew the 170 was going! But I’m just glad to win. He’ll never give up.

“The nine-darter just happened, these guys were booing me at the beginning and then they started cheering me on!

“That’s two unbelievable performances from myself here. I just have to focus.

“You can never put the trophy in someone’s hands after round one or round two. I wanted Luke Humphries to win and us to meet in another final.”

Littler will face Josh Rock in the quarters after he came through a tough 11-6 game against Stephen Bunting in which neither player hit their usual heights.

Both were averaging in the low 70s in the opening session, Rock visibly frustrated at his showing but battling hard to reel off four legs on the bounce on the way to moving 7-4 in front.

Eventually, he took the contest with a sensational 140 checkout to book a rematch with Littler, who beat him in a sensational 17-14 semi-final at this venue in 2015.

MVG beaten in tense clash as Ando continues strong run

Fourth seed Michael van Gerwen was dumped out of the World Matchplay in a tense 14-12 tie-break clash with fellow Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode in a loss that drops him provisionally down to world No 6.

Van Gerwen came into the Matchplay defending £100,000, and with this defeat, he has lost his world No 4 spot.

It was a match filled with drama and after a tense start, Van Duijvenbode took the first opportunities to edge ahead and following a solid 125 checkout, he broke the throw to move to 4-3 before adding a second break to move 8-4 ahead.

Despite clearly struggling with a shoulder issue throughout, Van Gerwen managed to rally. That saw him fire in a triple bullseye finish followed by a key break of throw with the match on the line to level the game at 10-10.

With a two-leg advantage needed to declare a winner, the tie-break ensued and it was Van Duijvenbode who came up trumps once again, this time with six perfect darts for an 11-dart leg that broke the throw and moved him 13-12 ahead.

The match was then in his hands and eventually, on his seventh match dart and after Van Gerwen had missed his own chances, Van Duijvenbode pinned D8 and let out a roar after defeating his Dutch compatriot.

He will face Gary Anderson after the 2018 Matchplay champion made it into the quarters with an 11-7 victory over Welshman Jonny Clayton.

It marks the ‘Flying Scotsman’s’ first appearance in the quarter-finals at this event in six years but early on, it did not look like it would happen.

After the first session, Anderson was 4-1 after some imperious finishing from Clayton, 105 and 121 checkouts putting him on top.

However, Anderson then reeled off five legs in a row to take the lead before a crucial break of throw in the 15th leg moved him 9-6 ahead.

From there, Anderson held his throw with some ease and wrapped up his place in the last eight on D8.

What is happening on Wednesday at the World Matchplay?

The round two action continues on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports, with four more big matches coming your way.

Cameron Menzies will be looking to back up a huge win over world No 2 Luke Humphries when he takes on Ross Smith.

Gerwyn Price then takes on fellow former world champion Rob Cross.

World No 3 Gian Van Veen faces a showdown against fellow Dutchman and in-form Wessel Nijman, with James Wade taking on Ryan Searle.

Who will win this year’s World Matchplay Darts? Luke Littler will be defending his title and you can watch all the action on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.