UK Open - Third Day
LITTLER DOWNS WADE TO CLAIM CONSECUTIVE UK OPEN TITLES
Luke Littler claimed back-to-back Ladbrokes UK Open titles in Minehead on Sunday, battling past James Wade in the final for the second successive year. Littler won through the whopping 157-player field to become the first player to win consecutive UK Open titles since Michael van Gerwen in 2015 and 2016, scooping the 120,000 pound top prize at Butlin's Minehead Resort with a hard-fought 11-7 victory in the showpiece.
The world number one started the final in rampant fashion by cruising to a 3-0 lead, but Wade stayed within an arm's reach, reducing the deficit to 3-2 by the first interval.
Wade's remarkable resilience continued, levelling the contest at 6-6 after Littler again took the lead despite a 12-point gap in the averages at this point.
However, a huge 116 checkout in leg 15 spurred on the defending champion, who took four consecutive legs to claim his second straight UK Open title.
The 19-year-old becomes the fourth player after Raymond van Barneveld, Phil Taylor and Van Gerwen to retain the title following his successful day in Minehead, and remains undefeated in Premier ranking events since losing to Wade at the European Championship last October.
"This feels amazing," admitted Littler, who claimed his fifth consecutive Premier event title by claiming glory in Minehead.
"I don't think it's been the best of tournaments for myself averages wise, but I've dug deep throughout the tournament and I've come out with the win.
"If James had hit some of those darts at double top it would have been a completely different game, but me and James always have a good battle.
"Coming into the tournament I saw that the last person to go back-to-back was Michael ten years ago, same as the World Championship, so that was the target I set myself!
"I don't think many people expected me to come here and win, and I don't think many people expected me to win in the Premier League on Thursday.
"I had a little dry spell, but I think I can say I'm back!"
Littler began Finals Day with a glittering 10-6 victory over Danny Noppert, taking five of the last six legs in the match and checking out a majestic 161 in the process. This was followed up with a gruelling 11-9 win over Josh Rock, as the World Champion recovered from 5-1 down after a spell of 16 missed doubles in a row to battle through to the final.
The world number one also accounted for Australian number one Damon Heta on Friday evening, before surviving a scare against Kevin Doets with a hard-fought 10-8 win followed by a rampant 10-5 victory over 2018 winner Gary Anderson.
Wade, meanwhile, kicked off his bid for a fourth UK Open title by defying a 102 average from Chris Dobey to edge through a last-leg decider, before blasting past Gabriel Clemens and then recording a 105.83 average against world number four Van Gerwen to reach Finals Day.
The 42-year-old - playing in his 24th consecutive edition of the event - then battled through another last-leg decider against Rob Cross in the quarter-finals, taking out a neat 107 outshot to progress to the last four.
Wade then put in a dazzling display to defeat Gerwyn Price 11-8, averaging north of 105 and smashing in 11 maximums to become just the second player in history after Taylor to reach five UK Open finals, before bowing out to Littler.
"Luke was just too good for me there in the end," confessed a gracious Wade, who fell to defeat against Littler in a third consecutive final. "I couldn't quite find it, but hats off to Luke, he's doing what he does and he does it quite easily! "I think for the last 18 months I've done alright. Luke's flying the flag. He's the best player in the world at the moment, and unfortunately I've lost to him in three finals! "I'm happy to be in the final. I hate losing more than anyone, but I lost to the better player on the day."
Earlier in the day, Rock secured his second consecutive UK Open semi-final thanks to a 10-7 comeback win against Krzysztof Ratajski. Despite trailing 6-4, the Northern Irish World Cup winner rallied to take six of the last seven legs, including a 63 percent success rate on the outer-ring.
Price set up his semi-final clash with Wade by toppling his World Cup partner Jonny Clayton 10-8 in a fascinating clash, hammering in 10 maximums in the process. Despite Clayton landing 116 and 140 checkouts towards the tail end of the match, Price held his nerve to reach his first UK Open semi-final since 2021.