Luke Littler brushes aside Michael Smith to reach Premier League final
The 17-year-old went close to nine-dart finish on his way to victory.
Luke Littler is one win away from becoming the youngest ever major champion in darts after reaching the Premier League final.
The 17-year-old has enjoyed a memorable debut campaign, finishing top of the league phase and bagging four nightly victories.
And he put on a show in front of a record 14,000 fans at the O2 Arena in London to beat Michael Smith 10-5 in the play-offs semi-final.
Littler showed exactly why he has taken the world by storm since bursting on to the scene at the World Championship over Christmas, producing a fine performance against Smith, averaging over 100 and delivering two 100-plus checkouts.
After checking out a 144 to break Smith’s throw and take a 3-1 lead there was no looking back and he teased the crowd with the prospect of a nine-dart finish after throwing seven perfect darts in the following leg before missing the treble 19.
A 107 checkout took him 8-4 in front and he was able to see the match out to book a spot in the final against Luke Humphries.
“All of it was very good, coming into tonight I knew I had the darts straight away and I wanted to go into the break with a decent lead,” Littler said.
“They are the big shots you have to take out.”
Humphries set up a repeat of the World Championship final as he continued his domination over Michael van Gerwen in the second semi-final.
The world number one was imperious in securing a seventh successive victory against the Dutchman, claiming a 10-5 victory, thanks mainly to a run which saw him win six successive legs.
