World Darts Championship: Fallon Sherrock denied Luke Littler showdown after defeat to Ryan Meikle

Fallon Sherrock was denied a clash with Luke Littler at the World Darts Championship after she lost her first-round match to Ryan Meikle in a deciding set.

Sherrock lost her first game at the Alexandra Palace for a fourth consecutive year in a nervy contest as Meikle found a way to get over the line.

Meikle will play Littler at around 9pm on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Darts, ahead of Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Tyson Fury on Sky Sports Box Office.

“For me, it’s an unbelievable prize, to play Luke Littler on this stage – the biggest stage of them all,” said Meikle, who reached the fifth round of the UK Open earlier this year.

“No one knows what is going to happen on Saturday, but to play him here, I’m really happy.

“I’m not going to say that I’m going to win, but I just can’t wait to play him.”

Sherrock made a solid start as she won the first set but Meikle turned the tables by winning six legs in a row to take a 2-1 lead.

Both players were far from their best and Sherrock took the match to a decider by holding throw in the fourth set but Meikle held his nerve to win the last set, despite having the crowd against him.

“I felt good coming into the match. But before I knew it, she won the first set and I was on the back foot,” said Meikle.

“I felt under pressure from the start and to come through that, I just feel unbelievable.

“The crowd were behind Fallon – the atmosphere was unbelievable – and I just feel lucky to come through that in the end.”

In the evening session’s other first-round matches, Ricardo Pietreczko made light work of Zong Xiao Chen, a straight-sets victory setting up a meeting with Gian van Veen.

Rashad Sweeting, from the Bahamas, won the hearts of the Ally Pally crowd with an entertaining display in defeat to Jeffrey De Graaf, who will next face Gary Anderson.

Sweeting, an immigration officer in his home country, shocked his opponent and the crowd by claiming the opening set, and missed five darts to take the second. He rolled out Chelsea footballer Cole Palmer’s trademark celebration after a 180 and checked out 126 by the bullseye but De Graaf eventually found his footing to extinguish any hopes of an upset.

De Decker dumped out by Woodhouse

World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker suffered a shock early exit after being beaten by Luke Woodhouse.

De Decker becomes the second seeded player in as many days to crash out of the Worlds, following on from James Wade on Monday, with the Belgian beaten 3-1 his second-round encounter.

Woodhouse wrapped up the opening set in straight legs and broke his opponent with a scrappy 21-darter on his way to winning the second, only for De Decker to charge back into the contest by winning four consecutive legs.

Momentum moved back in Woodhouse’s favour when he won back-to-back legs, breaking De Decker with a 15-darter, before holding throw in the next to set up a last-32 tie against Damon Heta or Connor Scutt after Christmas.

Kevin Doets had to battle back from a set down to claim a 3-1 victory over Noa-Lynn Van Leuven, who fired six maximums in an impressive debut that saw her become the first transgender player to compete at the World Championship.

The turning point of the contest came when Doets edged a scrappy 33-dart leg in the second set, where Van Leuven – who posted two 120 finishes – missed multiple chances to break ahead, before he closed out victory to book a rematch with last year’s opponent Michael Smith.

“I knew I had to beat Noa first, but it feels like the Gods wanted to give me another chance [against Michael Smith],” Doets told Sky Sports. “It’s a really good feeling and hopefully I beat him on Thursday.”

James Hurrell will face Michael van Gerwen in the next round after dropping just one leg in his straight-sets thrashing of Jim Long, while Ryan Joyce will play Danny Noppert after claiming a 3-1 win Darius Labanauskas.

What’s next?

We have just one session of action for you on Wednesday December 18, which you can watch live on Sky Sports from 7pm.

Jim Williams takes on Paolo Nebrida and Madars Razma faces Christian Kist, while Ricky Evans plays Gordon Mathers before Nathan Aspinall gets his tournament under way against Leonard Gates.

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.