Luke Littler is through to the fourth round of the World Darts Championship after overcoming another tough test to defeat Ian White 4-1 at Alexandra Palace.
The pre-tournament favorite came through a close first set but lost the second to White, who missed darts to win three of the first four sets and threaten a familiar defeat against the fourth seed.
Littler stormed through the third set with just 39 darts and punished a missed dart from White to close out the fourth with a 70 checkout, then broke White in the next before closing out a 14-dart victory.
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Littler overcame White in a great layup, where he finished with an 88 checkout without a problem
Littler averaged 97.84 and 12 maximums against White and the 17-year-old avoided a repeat of the emotion seen in his second-round win against Ryan Meikle to book a meeting with Ryan Joyce in the last 16 on Monday.
More to come…
MVG sends Dolan off as Dobey marches on
Van Gerwen appeared to be on course to take the first set when he broke serve in the third leg, only for Dolan to fire 15 straight – including an 86 finish – to grab a shock lead.
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Michael van Gerwen produced a vintage display hitting a 129 checkout to break Brendan Dolan and take the second set
The Dutchman came through a poor 21-dart stretch – despite missing seven in a doubleheader – but closed out the second leg in emphatic fashion in the next leg, firing a 129 checkout for a 12-dart break, before quickly taking control of bidding. .
Van Gerwen won eight straight sets – including a blistering 149 checkout at the start of the fourth – to win the next two sets in straight legs, only for Dolan to capitalize on the three-time world champion’s wayward finish to break and take the set back in the fifth.
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Van Gerwen scored a 149 checkout in the first part of the third set against Dolan
Dolan made a brilliant 123 checkout on the bullseye and missed a dart in the next leg to take the contest to a decisive final set, while Van Gerwen survived to hold the throw to secure his place in the next round.
“It was a really tough, really tough match,” Van Gerwen he told Sky Sports. “I tried to punish him at the right moments and I wasn’t up to it. I can only blame myself for that. I’m so glad D8 came in at the end.”
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Van Gerwen said he had a tough year and still has a lot of work to do
The opening match of the night also produced a close encounter, with Dobey coming from 2-1 down to win 4-2 over Rock to book a last 16 meeting against either Kevin Doets or Krzysztof Ratajski.
Dobey responded to the loss of the third set by cruising through the fourth in straight legs and surviving Rock’s missed dart in the fifth set to take the decider in the final leg, before sealing victory with a brilliant double-double finish of 19s and a 96 checkout .
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Chris Dobey bounces back for a double-double win after Josh Rock puts the pressure on with a 180 in their third round match
Afternoon preview: Aspinall enters final
Nathan Aspinall made it to the last 16 for the first time in five years after defeating Andrew Gilding in straight sets to set up a meeting with Ricardo Pietreczko on Monday.
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During Nathan Aspinall’s match with Andrew Gilding, Aspa was slightly disturbed by the crowd at Alexandra Palace as he briefly stopped playing to watch the shenanigans on Ally Pally
Aspinall broke Gilding twice in the first set and cruised through the deciding legs of the final to win the next two, before wrapping up an impressive win – where he averaged 92.17 and was clinical in the doubles – taking the guns by 14 darts to break.
“I’m glad I could finish,” Aspinall said Sky Sports. “Usually I’m very bad at finishing, that’s usually the reason why I lose. Usually my scoring isn’t there. The last two games I’ve played, I’ve finished very well, not great.”
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Nathan Aspinall blew the roof off Alexandra Palace as he brought the crowd to their feet with his walk for his match against Andrew Gilding at the 2025 World Darts Championship.
Pietreczko continued his impressive World Championship by running away from last year’s semi-finalist Scott Williams, winning both of the first two sets and racing through the fourth in straight legs before closing out a 4-1 victory with a stunning 121 checkout on the bullseye.
The second match of the session was decided by the final set, with Joyce squandering a two-set lead against Ryan Searle before recovering to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2019.
“It was a really tough match,” Joyce said Sky Sports. “I tried everything at the end to get through and I’m very pleased that I was able to find something in the tank in that last set.”
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Ryan Joyce fought off a comeback from Ryan Searle to win 4-3 to advance to the fourth round. Joyce also scored an impressive 113 checkouts and Searle made the mistake of missing one 20 to go out on top, all in the final set
What comes next?
Round three concludes on Sunday with Dimitri van den Bergh leading the afternoon session against Callan Rydz after Kevin Doets faces Krzysztof Ratajski and Jeffrey de Graff plays Paolo Nebrida.
Ricky Evans will take on Robert Owen to open the evening session, the final match of the tournament’s 32 finals, before the fourth round begins later that evening with a Welsh clash between Jonny Clayton and former world champion Gerwyn Price.
Defending champion Luke Humphries then meets the two-time world champion in the final match of the night, with the remaining six fourth-round matches played on Monday before the quarter-finals are played – over two sessions – on New Year’s Day.
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