19 January 2024 , 17:30
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Luke Littler's meteoric rise shows no signs of stopping after he hit a sensational nine-darter in his Bahrain Masters quarter-final tie against Nathan Aspinall.
The 16-year-old continued his impressive form since reaching the World Darts Championship final to progress past Man Lok Leung (6-3) on Thursday. And he started his last-eight match against Aspinall with the perfect leg. Littler hit two 180s, before finishing off with treble 20, treble 19, double 12 to become the youngest ever player to hit a televised nine-darter.
After hitting the double to complete the nine-darter, Littler turned around in delight and celebrated in front of the supporters, punching the air as he created history. Meanwhile, opponent Aspinall showed a touch of class by going over, shaking his hand and giving the teenage sensation a hug.
It was a memorable moment for Littler, who then took the second leg to storm into a 2-0 lead. However, to his credit, Aspinall didn't panic and took the next two legs to draw level as Littler was punished for missing four darts on a double to make it 3-1 in the fourth leg.
But Littler responded once more and held his nerve with his throw to go into a 3-2 advantage, before breaking Aspinall to gallop 4-2 in front. Although Aspinall continued to show fight as he halved the deficit at 4-3, Littler won the eighth and ninth leg to book his place in the semi-final.
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Littler will now face Gerwyn Price in the last four of the Bahrain Masters later on Friday night. Price secured his semi-final spot after beating world champion Luke Humphries 6-3.
Speaking to ITV4 after his win over Aspinall, Littler said: "I'm just glad to win and I think I played really well. It's good to get one [a nine-darter] on TV - the first one of the year goes to me. Hopefully I hit a few more! I just take it game by game, if I win, I win, if I lose my next game, it is what it is."
The only other player to ever hit a nine-darter in a World Series Darts event was Phil Taylor, who hit the perfect leg against Peter Wright at the Sydney Darts Masters in 2015.
Luke Littler hit a nine-darter during his Bahrain Masters quarter-final tie against Nathan Aspinall (@OfficialPDC)Littler has endured a meteoric rise in recent weeks after reaching the final of the World Darts Championship earlier this month. The teenager beat Christian Kist, Andrew Gilding, Matt Campbell, Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Dolan and Rob Cross en route to the final, before losing out to Humphries.