Bahrain Masters: Luke Littler beats Michael van Gerwen in final

Luke Littler is just the second player to hit a nine-darter at a World Series event, after 16-time world champion Phil Taylor

Teenager Luke Littler continued his stunning rise by beating Michael van Gerwen 8-5 to win the Bahrain Masters.

It is Littler's first PDC senior title after coming up short against Luke Humphries in the World Championship final earlier this month.

Littler, 16, earlier threw a nine-darter in the first leg of his quarter-final victory over Nathan Aspinall.

"No-one believes me but I hadn't thrown a dart since the world final until yesterday," Littler told ITV4.

"MVG is the very best and I'm just very happy to win on my debut. It's been unbelievable this week."

England's Littler broke Dutch three-time world champion Van Gerwen in legs eight and 12.

He saw off Hong Kong's Man Lok Leung 6-3 in his opening match on Thursday before beating Aspinall 6-3 and Gerwyn Price 7-3 on Friday to reach the final.

In beating Aspinall, Price and Van Gerwen, he recorded victories over three of the world's top five ranked players to claim the title.

Littler also became the youngest person to make a nine-darter - scoring 501 with the minimum number of darts required - on live television and is only the second player to achieve the feat in the World Series, which started in 2013, after 16-time world champion Phil Taylor.

He heads back to Europe next to feature in the Dutch Masters on 26 and 27 January at Maaspoort Den Bosch.

"I've not really set any goals for this year - I didn't even expect to pick up this trophy," Littler said.

"I'm just going to have to see what my darts do."

Littler's win in Bahrain means he takes home the top prize of £20,000, adding to the £200,000 he earned for finishing as runner-up at the World Championship.

He has plenty on the horizon after being selected as the youngest person to take part in the eight-player Premier League, which starts on 1 February.

World champion Humphries, who beat English compatriot Littler 7-4 in the final at Alexandra Palace on 3 January, was on track to meet the teenager again in Bahrain but he came up short in his quarter-final against Price.

The Welshman sealed a 6-4 win in the opening match of the day to end world number one Humphries' 20-match winning streak.