Bahrain Masters: Teenage sensation Luke Littler claims 6-3 win on World Series of Darts debut
- Published
Luke Littler has climbed 133 places in the world rankings in the last month after his exploits at Alexandra Palace
Teenage sensation Luke Littler beat Hong Kong's Man Lok Leung 6-3 on his highly anticipated World Series of Darts debut at the Bahrain Masters.
Littler, who turns 17 in three days, was the youngest PDC World Championship finalist earlier in January.
He faces fellow Englishman Nathan Aspinall in the last eight, after the World Matchplay champion edged past the Philippines' Lourence Ilagan 6-5.
The winner of the tournament will collect a top prize of £20,000.
Thursday's first round pits eight players from the PDC circuit against eight players from Asia in best-of-11 leg matches.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final are all scheduled to take place on Friday.
Littler, who has had some time off since his exploits at Alexandra Palace, missed three attempts at double five in the first leg as he went 2-0 down. However, he then reeled off five consecutive legs before sealing his victory against the world number 126.
Meanwhile, new world champion Luke Humphries extended his 19-match winning run with a resounding 6-0 victory over the host nation's Abdulla Saeed.
The world number one has also won the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals in recent months and is bidding to lift his fifth televised title in the space of six events.
Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen won by the same 6-0 scoreline against Bahrain's Hasan Haji.
Scotland's two-time world champion Peter Wright was pushed close in a 6-5 win over Japan's PDC Asian Championship winner Haruki Muramatsu, as was England's Michael Smith, who came out the right side of a 6-5 score against Paolo Nebrida.
Wales' Gerwyn Price beat Filipino Reynaldo Rivera 6-4 and Rob Cross secured a 6-3 win over Tomoya Goto after the Japanese thrower took three consecutive legs to level at 3-3.