In only his third European Tour event, 17-year-old Luke Littler won his second title as he emerged victorious in this past weekend's Austrian Darts Open in Premstätten, Austria, beating the likes of Damon Heta, Ross Smith and finally Joe Cullen en-route to victory.
Having won on his European Tour debut in Wieze at the Belgian Darts Open, but narrowly losing out to Luke Humphries at the European Darts Grand Prix, the Nuke entered the tournament as the bookies' favourite, a surprise considering he was in the same half of the draw as Michael Van Gerwen and had a difficult road to the final ahead of him.
A solid opening display against local favourite Zoran Lerchbacher saw Littler progress to face against Damon Heta, in a rematch of their epic at the UK Open which the Australian No.1 won in nailbiting fashion. But there was no drama or tension on Saturday night as Littler comfortably dispatched the Heat 6-2 with a monstrous 106.02 average to make finals day.
In Sunday's early session, Littler fought back from an early break to best the Polish no.1 seed Kryzystof Ratajski, before having to come through a last leg shootout against Danny Noppert to make the semi finals.
Ross Smith awaited Littler, and after being the Grand Prix runner up and dominating MVG in the previous round, 'Smudger' was looking to go 2-0 against Littler in their head to head record.
But it wasn't to be for the former European Champion, as the teenager went on a tear to win 7-2 with a 105.65 average.
In the final, we were then treat to a first time encounter between Littler and Joe Cullen, with the Rockstar enjoying a comfortable run to the final, including taking out the no.1 seed Dave Chisnall and the Masters Champion Stephen Bunting.
In front of the raucous Austrian Crowd, and beginning the match trading legs, Littler soon began to break away and build up his lead, soon heavily outscoring an otherwise incredibly clinical Cullen. Two breaks of the throw proved crucial, as Littler eventually won 8-4 to secure his second trophy on this year's European Tour.
A SECOND EUROPEAN TOUR TITLE FOR LITTLER 🏆
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 28, 2024
Luke Littler wins the 2024 https://t.co/Nw9IKxvF5P Austrian Darts Open, beating Joe Cullen 8-4 to secure his second European Tour title.
The man to beat in world darts right now... 🔥
📺 https://t.co/YyBPPwoMK8 pic.twitter.com/z86NudgYd4
By Jaspar Shepherdson
(@jasparshepmedia on X/Twitter and Instagram)
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