Luke Littler opened his European Championship title bid with a dazzling 6-3 victory over William O\u2019Connor on Friday, as debutant Kevin Doets dumped out Michael van Gerwen in round one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Littler\u2019s hunt for the only Premier title that eludes him began in Dortmund in impressive fashion, recording a 105.05 average – the best of the tournament so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World Champion struck six 180s to down Irish number one O\u2019Connor and set up a tantalising round two clash with Nathan Aspinall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with the win,\u201d said the world number one, who picked up just his second victory at the Westfalenhalle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI meet Nathan again tomorrow. I\u2019ve just got to take it game by game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cObviously it\u2019s the last one missing so I can\u2019t put too much pressure on myself. I\u2019m just happy to get back on stage and do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aspinall awaits Littler after reeling off four straight legs to see off Cristo Reyes, including finishes of 134, 112 and 90 to come back from behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doets produced a stellar display to dispatch four-time winner Van Gerwen 6-3 on debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A winner on the Players Championship circuit this year, Doets followed a 106 checkout with a sublime 132 outshot on the bullseye to lead 3-0, before delivering the final blow with a 12-darter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a tough game,\u201dassessed Doets, who will take on Krzysztof Ratajski on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe draw comes out and I get Michael\u2026 it\u2019s still Michael van Gerwen. He is the one I looked up to for years and the most successful player from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t play like he can, but I\u2019m really happy to win. I felt through the whole game that I was the better player.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ratajski recorded an eighth consecutive victory over Dave Chisnall to move into round two, with the third seed recording just a second win at the tournament in his eighth appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Martin Schindler delighted an adoring home crowd with a last-leg triumph over number two seed Wessel Nijman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The German number one – who crept into the 32-player field in the 15th and final European Tour event of the year – took out 55% of his outer-ring efforts to topple a profligate Nijman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy at the moment,\u201d professed an elated Schindler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was really nervous, especially in the last leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRight now I feel over the moon and very confident. Tomorrow is a new day and I will need to focus again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jermaine Wattimena will lock horns with Schindler in round two, after the Dutchman saw off Ryan Joyce 6-3 despite missing two match darts for a whitewash win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonny Clayton will take on Josh Rock after the pair recorded dominant wins over Niko Springer and Chris Dobey respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former World Grand Prix winner Clayton scored impressively to overpower his German opponent 6-3, while Rock rattled off six legs straight to brush aside Dobey 6-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2026 European Championship continues with a crucial double session on Saturday, as all 16 remaining players return for round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defending champion Gian van Veen takes on Luke Woodhouse in the pick of the afternoon ties, while Littler and Aspinall locks horns in the evening session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Luke Littler opened his European Championship title bid with a dazzling 6-3 victory over William O\u2019Connor on Friday,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-16988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Round One <\/strong>
Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Ryan Joyce
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Dave Chisnall
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Cristo Reyes
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Niko Springer
Luke Littler 6-3 William O’Connor
Martin Schindler 6-5 Wessel Nijman
Kevin Doets 6-3 Michael van Gerwen
Josh Rock 6-1 Chris Dobey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"