Luke Littler opened his bid for a third consecutive Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts title with a statement victory over Beau Greaves on a pulsating day of action in Wolverhampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reigning champion Littler averaged 109.97 to win through a compelling encounter against Women\u2019s World Matchplay champion Greaves, who averaged almost 104 in defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Doncaster trailblazer won their previous meeting in last year\u2019s World Youth Championship, only for Littler to avenge that result with a blistering display on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew I needed to get off a strong start,\u201d admitted the world number one, who is yet to taste defeat in 15 matches at this event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeau was fantastic, but I\u2019m happy with my performance and I\u2019ve still got a 100% record in Wolverhampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just love it here. When you\u2019re performing like this you\u2019re going to be happy, I\u2019ve been practising hard and I\u2019m glad I\u2019ve shown it tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Littler will now take on Dutch Darts Champion Niels Zonneveld in his next Group A assignment on Monday, knowing that victory will confirm his place in the knockout stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day One of the \u00a31m event saw 16 round-robin ties take place across a bumper double session, as a host of big names delivered the goods at WV Active Aldersley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen came out on top in a nine-leg thriller against rising star Henry Coates, as the Dutch superstar won his opening group game for a 16th<\/sup> consecutive year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coates crashed in five 180s and produced superb 121 and 156 checkouts to threaten a major upset, only for Van Gerwen to survive two match darts in the decider to triumph with a 100.42 average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think you need to give credit to Henry,\u201d reflected Van Gerwen, who will also face Jeffrey de Graaf in Group L.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor his first time on the big stage I think he played a phenomenal game, but I had to dig deep tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEveryone knows where I\u2019m coming from. I have to battle for every game I want to win, and luckily today I gave some joy to myself!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2023 champion Luke Humphries also impressed in the West Midlands, averaging 105.7 to wrap up a hard-fought 5-3 victory against PDC Asian Champion Paolo Nebrida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Nathan Aspinall was Saturday\u2019s stand-out performer, producing the highest televised average of his career in a 5-1 drubbing of Maik Kuivenhoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Stockport star seized control of Group P with an irrepressible display, averaging 111.68 and converting back-to-back 149 and 120 checkouts en route to victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m in a very good headspace at the moment,\u201d insisted Aspinall, a Grand Slam runner-up in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis format is absolutely brutal. It\u2019s so cut-throat. There\u2019s going to be lots of shocks and I don\u2019t want to be one of them, and that\u2019s why I was so focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis first game was massive, so I\u2019m buzzing to put in a great performance and now I\u2019ll be raring to go on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dutch number one Gian van Veen produced similarly staggering numbers in his win over big stage newcomer Carl Sneyd, averaging 110.51 to run out a 5-2 winner in the evening\u2019s penultimate encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James Wade also impressed in his Group K opener against Cam Crabtree, averaging north of 104 to begin his record-equalling 19th<\/sup> Grand Slam campaign in style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gerwyn Price made a winning start on his Wolverhampton return, defying a furious fightback from Joe Hunt \u2013 which featured a spectacular 170 checkout – to begin his bid for a fourth Eric Bristow Trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, Ross Smith was one of several high-profile names to succumb on Day One, as Rusty-Jake Rodriguez punished a profligate display from the European Champion to claim a shock 5-3 win in Group O.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonny Clayton and Josh Rock are also precariously placed in their respective groups, after losing out to debutants Anton Ostlund and Tommy Morris respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ostlund edged past world number five Clayton in Group G, while Morris averaged 100.33 in an eye-catching 5-2 win against two-time quarter-finalist Rock in Group C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tom Sykes also prevailed on his Wolverhampton debut, running out a 5-3 winner against Luke Woodhouse to secure the early initiative in Group J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen Bunting averaged almost 101 in a dramatic encounter against Raymond Smith, while Ryan Searle reeled off the last two legs in just 23 darts to seal a deciding-leg win over Charlie Manby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsewhere, Dutch duo Wessel Nijman and Jermaine Wattimena eased past Adam Sevada and Lisa Ashton, while Chris Dobey swept aside World Youth Championship finalist Jan Schmidt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Day Two of the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts will see Saturday\u2019s losing players return to play Player B from each group, with Smith, Clayton and Rock amongst the stars in action. Group Matches (Seeded Player v Player C) Luke Littler opened his bid for a third consecutive Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts title with a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5567,"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":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-17742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","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
RESULTS
Group Matches (Seeded Player v Player C)
<\/strong>Tom Sykes 5-3 Luke Woodhouse (J)
Jermaine Wattimena 5-2 Lisa Ashton (B)
Stephen Bunting 5-4 Raymond Smith (D)
Ryan Searle 5-4 Charlie Manby (F)
Tommy Morris 5-2 Josh Rock (C)
Wessel Nijman 5-1 Adam Sevada (H)
Nathan Aspinall 5-1 Maik Kuivenhoven (P)
Anton Ostlund 5-4 Jonny Clayton (G)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Gerwyn Price 5-3 Joe Hunt (E)
James Wade 5-1 Cam Crabtree (K)
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 5-3 Ross Smith (O)
Michael van Gerwen 5-4 Henry Coates (L)
Luke Humphries 5-3 Paolo Nebrida (I)
Luke Littler 5-2 Beau Greaves (A)
Gian van Veen 5-2 Carl Sneyd (M)
Chris Dobey 5-2 Jan Schmidt (N)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"