Littler cruises into Players Championship second round

Luke Littler is fifth in the world rankings

Luke Littler breezed into the second round of the Players Championship with a 6-0 victory over Rob Cross.

An early break of throw gave Littler the upper hand and when Cross missed bull to win the fourth leg the 17-year-old sensed a whitewash was on the cards.

Littler, who won the Grand Slam of Darts on Sunday, duly closed out the remaining two legs with ease as he finished with a 112.73 average having nailed four 180s.

The teenager will face fellow Englishman Ritchie Edhouse in the second round.

Reigning world champion Luke Humphries also eased through in Minehead with a 6-2 win over Germany's Gabriel Clemens.

Humphries produced an 11-dart leg to go 4-0 up but Clemens briefly rallied to win the next two legs before he missed the chance to reduce the deficit further.

That seemed to jolt defending champion Humphries back into life and he duly wrapped up the next two legs without much trouble to secure a meeting with veteran Raymond van Barneveld.

Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen crashed out in a shock 6-1 defeat by Ian White, who is ranked 59th in the world.

White, 54, rose to the occasion as he produced an average of 102.69 while the Dutchman struggled for rhythm.

Top seed Chris Dobey was another big name to exit the tournament after a substandard display in a 6-1 thrashing by Nathan Aspinall.

Gerwyn Price was also on the receiving end of an upset after he was beaten 6-4 by world number 83 Thibault Tricole of France, while a spirited fightback from Ryan Meikle gave him a 6-5 win over Gary Anderson.

Peter Wright and Stephen Bunting were also both knocked out - beaten 6-1 and 6-2 defeats by Daryl Gurney and Mario Vandenbogaerde respectively.