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LITTLER MESMERISES AGAIN TO SET UP VAN DUIJVENBODE SEMI-FINAL

Luke Littler continued his magnificent Betfred World Matchplay campaign with a sparkling 16-7 victory over Josh Rock to progress into the semi-finals on Thursday.

Littler produced his third consecutive average north of 109 to breeze into the last four, hammering in 17 maximums and defying a 101.24 average from Rock to emphatically maintain his title defence.
Although the Northern Irish number one kept the contest at 5-5 in the opening stages, the World Champion burst away, rattling off seven legs straight to give himself daylight with a 12-5 lead. After a fourth ton-plus finish to lead 13-6, the world number one saw out the match 16-7 to lock in his semi-final spot, where he will face Dirk van Duijvenbode.

"That's another brilliant game for myself," assessed Littler, who finished the match with a 109.57 average and 53 precent doubles success rate. "I've gone 109, 113, 109 [for averages] again, so I've just got to keep it going, but fair play to Josh, he gave me a really good game there. "At the minute, I feel very good. Everything is going to plan. I can afford to miss a few doubles because the scoring is there. "As long as I'm playing well, I think I'll give it a really good go. Next game we will try and get better than a 109 average. "I think I've got to get ahead of Dirk early on. I've just got to get into that lead, put him under pressure and make him start chasing."

Van Duijvenbode survived a spirited Gary Anderson fightback to progress to a maiden semi-final at the Winter Gardens, triumphing 16-13.
The Dutchman led from the early stages, rushing into a 4-1 lead courtesy of a 107 checkout, which progressed into an 8-4 advantage. After a brief rally from the 2018 champion, Van Duijvenbode took six legs straight to lead 14-6, before taking out 86 on double seven to go one away from a historic win. Anderson then threatened an astounding comeback, winning six consecutive legs to reduce the arrears to 15-13 which included a mesmerising 154 checkout, before Van Duijvenbode closed out the contest with a stellar 13-darter to down the Scot.

"This feeling is very nice! I'm very happy," stated Van Duijvenbode, who averaged north of 101 in victory. "Gary never gives up. I've never seen him giving up, and when he's hitting his trebles, he is one of the very best in the world. "At some point I felt nerves in my stomach, and my boy [his son] always says he has a pain in his stomach when I go away to tournaments, because he doesn't want me to go away. "I felt that pain in my stomach, so when I was playing really well before the last session, I thought: 'I have this stomach pain, he has this stomach pain when I leave, so I can't let him down now.'"

The Betfred World Matchplay quarter-finals will continue on Friday evening, with another two colossal matches to come to complete the semi-final line-up. Former runner-up Gerwyn Price takes on Ross Smith in the evening's opener, while 2007 champion James Wade will take on Gian van Veen in a rematch of their quarter-final tussle last year.

Statistics - Quarterfinals 1

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