Gerwyn Price could not resist taking aim at his rivals on social media following his quarter-final triumph over Luke Littler at the Bahrain Darts Masters.
The Welsh thrower posted a tongue-in-cheek message on Instagram after defeating the world champion 6-2.
"Gutted to lose there," Price wrote. "Didn't feel good all night, gonna stop and watch the Luke-Luke final though."
The playful dig was directed at fans of both Littler and world number two Luke Humphries, who had tipped to meet in the final.
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Price swiftly made clear his intentions, adding: "Don't bite. I'm joking it's called banter."
The victory represented a significant upset as Price brought an end to Littler's remarkable 21-match winning run.
The Iceman dominated proceedings from early on, with the teenage sensation managing just a solitary leg to open the contest before his opponent took complete control.
Gerwyn Price could not resist taking aim at his rivals on social media following his quarter-final triumph over Luke Littler at the Bahrain Darts Masters
|PA
Price rattled off five consecutive legs to establish a commanding 5-1 advantage, leaving Littler with no realistic path back into the match.
The world No 1 briefly showed signs of life by hitting double 10 to reduce the deficit, but Price remained clinical and closed out the contest shortly afterwards to seal his place in the last four.
Littler's struggles prompted a notable equipment change during the match, with the teenager abandoning the prototype Target Darts he had been testing throughout the tournament.
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Gerwyn Price's cheeky comment on social media
|Trailing 3-1, the world champion took a pause at his table to retrieve his familiar old set in a bid to salvage the encounter.
The switch yielded a modest improvement in his performance, though it proved insufficient to halt Price's momentum.
Gerwyn Price made it clear he was joking
|Having opened with double 10 in the first leg, Littler found the same checkout to claim his second leg of the match, but by then the damage had already been done as Price marched towards victory.
Price's impressive run came to an end in the semi-finals, where he fell to Michael van Gerwen, who went on to claim the tournament title.
The Dutchman's path to victory was made somewhat easier by results elsewhere in the draw.
Humphries, the world No 2 whom Price had jokingly referenced in his social media post, suffered his own early departure from the competition.
The reigning world matchplay champion was eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Nathan Aspinall, meaning neither of the two Lukes that Price had mocked would feature in the latter stages of the Bahrain event.