World
Luke Littler Is on Course to Beat Phil Taylor's Tournament Average Record After Another Impressive Victory Saw Him Reach
News summary
- Price broke in the opening leg of the game and charged into a 4-1 lead, before a scrappy run of legs saw both players break throw regularly to leave Price leading 11-9 at the final mini-break.
Luke Littler is on course to beat Phil Taylor's tournament average record after another impressive victory saw him reach the final. Luke Littler is aiming to become just the third back-to-back winner of the World Matchplay Defending champion Luke Littler strolled into the World Matchplay final with a 17-5 demolition of unseeded Dirk van Duijvenbode in Blackpool. The world number one raced in an 8-2 advantage and was averaging 117.10 and on course to beat Phil Taylor's tournament match average record of 114.99 Littler admitted afterwards that distracted him and his level did drop slightly as he finished with an average just below 111. However, that leaves him well placed to beat Taylor's tournament average of 106.31, with Littler's currently at 110.88. The teenager's victory also means he has now amassed more than £3m in the PDC's order of merit, and is more than £2m clear of world number two Luke Humphries.
Littler will face Wales' Gerwyn Price in Sunday's final after he beat Netherlands' Gian van Veen 17-10. Sunday's final gets under way at 20:05 BST, with the Women's World Matchplay taking place in the afternoon session from 13:00 – Beau Greaves and defending champion Lisa Ashton the top two seeds. Price broke in the opening leg of the game and charged into a 4-1 lead, before a scrappy run of legs saw both players break throw regularly to leave Price leading 11-9 at the final mini-break. From there, the seventh seed powered on and stretched away from Van Veen in scoring and finishing to seal a comfortable victory.
Both players missed 23 darts at a double across the match, while Van Veen was broken nine times in 14 legs throwing first on what was a difficult night for the world number three. The victory sees Price climb to fourth in the order of merit, above Jonny Clayton, and in turn becomes Welsh number one. Price told Sky Sports he was "happy" to reach the final, but "getting one up" on good friend Clayton was his main focus going into the tie.
Source: BBC Sport