Luke Littler hits nine-darter and wins final of Belgian Darts Open to claim third professional tournament win

Luke Littler hits nine-darter and wins final of Belgian Darts Open to claim third professional tournament win

WATCH NOW: Luke Littler reacts to hitting a nine-darter at the Bahrain Masters

Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 10/03/2024

- 21:47

Updated: 11/03/2024

- 07:04

The 17-year-old has won his first European Tour event in Belgium

Luke Littler hit a nine-darter on his way to beating Rob Cross in the final of the Belgian Darts Open on Sunday.

The 17-year-old got through five rounds in Belgium before hitting a perfect leg in his 8-7 win over Cross in Wieze to claim his third professional tournament win.


Littler's rise to stardom in darts continues after a whirlwind few months on the oche for the teenage sensation.

He broke records on his way to the final of the World Darts Championship at the beginning of the year and has continued to make great strides in the sport.

Luke Littler

Luke Littler hit a nine-darter in his Belgian Darts Open final win over Rob Cross

PDC

Littler flew to Belgium for his first European Tour event in the early hours of Friday morning after night six in the Premier League the previous evening.

He faced Jose de Sousa in the first round on Friday night and was given a big scare by his Portuguese opponent.

De Sousa took the match to a deciding leg but Littler eventually saw it out to win 6-5.

He was drawn against Polish star Krzysztof Ratajski in Saturday's second round and saw him off 6-3.

Ratajski attempted to put Littler off by drinking water from a bottle at the youngster's table during the match.

Littler didn't let it affect him and he eased through to the third round.

He gained revenge over Damon Heta on Sunday afternoon, beating the Australian 6-3 to reach the quarter-final.

The match came just a week after Heta beat Littler in a thrilling match in the last eight of the UK Open in Minehead.

Jermaine Wattimena was Littler's opponent in the quarter-final and he averaged 110 in a superb display to beat the Dutchman 6-2.

He then faced Germany's Ricardo Pietreczko in the semi-final and came out on top 7-3 with an average of over 104.

Littler had a familiar face in the final, coming up against fellow Englishman Cross who defeated Gerwyn Price 7-3 in his semi.

Cross beat Littler in their last encounter in the Premier League in Exeter 10 days ago.

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Luke Littler

Luke Littler went wild after hitting a nine-darter against Rob Cross at the Belgian Darts Open

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The 2018 world champion led through much of the match before Littler wowed the crowd with a perfect leg to go 6-5 up, his third nine-darter in 2024.

He didn't have it all his own way as Cross then won the next two legs to be on the brink of victory.

But Littler stormed back to take it to a decider and then clinched victory with a double five to win 8-7.

Littler has now won three tournaments since he burst onto the scene at Ally Pally.

He first triumphed at the Bahrain Masters in January, beating Michael van Gerwen in the final.

Rob Cross

Rob Cross applauded as Luke Littler hit a nine-darter in the final

PDC

Van Gerwen beat Littler a week later to prevent him from winning the Dutch Darts Masters.

But Littler won his first Players Championship event in Wigan in February, beating Ryan Searle in the final.

He currently sits third in the Premier League table, having won all but one of his six quarter-finals to date.

Littler, who is yet to win a weekly night in the tournament, will be in Nottingham this Thursday for night seven.

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