World Darts Championship: Luke Littler beats Ian White as Michael van Gerwen, Chris Dobey win at the Alexandra Palace

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 the Alexandra Palace.

The pre-tournament favourite came through a tight opening set but lost the second to White, who missed darts to win three of the first four sets and threaten a famous upset against the fourth seed.

Littler raced through the third set in just 39 darts and punished a missed set dart from White to wrap up the fourth with a 70 checkout, then broke White in the next before closing out victory with a 14-darter.

Littler posted a 97.84 average and 12 maximums against White, with the 17-year-old avoiding a repeat of the emotions seen in his second-round win against Ryan Meikle and booking a last-16 meeting with Ryan Joyce on Monday.

More to follow…

MVG sees off Dolan as Dobey marches on

Van Gerwen appeared on course to take the opening set when he claimed a break of throw in the third leg, only for Dolan to fire back-to-back 15-darters – including an 86 finish on the bullseye – to grab a shock lead.

The Dutchman came through a scrappy 21-dart leg – despite missing seven darts at double – but wrapped up the second in emphatic fashion in the next leg, firing in a 129 checkout for a 12-dart break, before quickly taking control of the contest.

Van Gerwen won eight consecutive legs – including a brilliant 149 checkout at the start of the fourth – to win the next two sets in straight legs, only for Dolan to capitalise on wayward finishing from the three-time world champion to break and claim a set back in the fifth.

Dolan produced a brilliant 123 checkout on the bullseye and missed a dart in the next leg to take the contest to a final-set decider, as Van Gerwen survived to hold throw and secure his spot in the next round.

“It was really hard, a really difficult game,” Van Gerwen told Sky Sports. “I tried to punish him at the right moments and I wasn’t capable of doing it. I can only blame myself for that. I’m so glad that D8 went in at the end.”

The opening match of the evening also produced a tight encounter, where Dobey came from 2-1 down to claim a 4-2 victory over Rock and book a last-16 meeting against either Kevin Doets or Krzysztof Ratajski.

Dobey responded to losing the third set by cruising through the fourth in straight legs and survived Rock missing a set dart in the fifth to edge a final-leg decider, before signing off victory with a brilliant double-double finish on the 19s and 96 checkout.

Afternoon round-up: Aspinall breezes into last-16

Nathan Aspinall cruised through to the last 16 for the first time in five years after thrashing Andrew Gilding in straight sets, setting him up with a meeting against Ricardo Pietreczko on Monday.

Aspinall broke Gilding twice in the opening set and came through final-leg deciders to win the next two, before closing out an impressive win – where he registered a 92.17 average and was clinical on the doubles – by taking out tops for a 14-dart break.

“I’m glad I could finish,” Aspinall told Sky Sports. “Normally I’m really bad at finishing, that’s normally why I lose. Normally my scoring’s not there. The last two games I’ve played, I’ve finished really well, not scored great.”

Pietreczko continued his impressive World Championship by brushing aside last year’s semi-finalist Scott Williams, winning both the first two sets and racing through the fourth in straight legs before wrapping up a 4-1 victory with a stunning 121 checkout on the bullseye.

The other match of the session went to a final-set decider, with Joyce squandering a two-set lead against Ryan Searle before recovering to edge through to the fourth round for the first time since 2019.

“It was just a really tough match,” Joyce told Sky Sports. “I tried everything in the end to get through and I’m so pleased that I managed to find something in the tank in that last set.”

What’s coming up next?

The third round concludes on Sunday, with Dimitri van den Bergh headlining the afternoon session against Callan Rydz after Kevin Doets faces Krzysztof Ratajski and Jeffrey de Graff plays Paolo Nebrida.

Ricky Evans takes on Robert Owen to open the evening session, the final last-32 match of the tournament, before the fourth round begins later that evening with an all-Welsh showdown between Jonny Clayton and former world champion Gerwyn Price.

Defending champion Luke Humphries then faces two-time world champion in the final match of the night, with the remaining six fourth-round matches being played on Monday before the quarter-finals take place – across two sessions – on New Year’s Day.

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