Luke Littler ended Mike De Decker’s reign as World Grand Prix champion to set up a blockbuster quarter-final tussle against Gerwyn Price in Leicester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After winning through a record-breaking contest against Gian van Veen on Tuesday, Littler continued his pursuit of World Grand Prix glory with a dominant 3-0 win over reigning champion De Decker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World Champion was always in control against the below-par Belgian, conjuring up a sensational 170 checkout to breeze through to Friday’s quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
De Decker was unable to generate any momentum throughout, with Littler converting clinical 66, 91 and 95 combinations prior to his show-stopping 170.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Mike definitely wasn’t at his best tonight, so I had to jump on it early on,” reflected Littler, who is yet to drop a set in this year’s tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My starting doubles were very good once again, and knocking out any reigning champion is a big achievement. Now it’s on to the quarter-finals. Hopefully I can go all the way, but you cannot afford to look too far ahead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Littler’s reward is a tantalising showdown against 2020 champion Price, who dispatched Josh Rock in similarly comprehensive style at the Mattioli Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Welshman reeled off eight consecutive legs to sweep aside the Northern Irishman, averaging over 100 in each of the last two sets to maintain his bid for a second double-start crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I just looked at the averages and I thought I played better than that,”\u00a0revealed Price, one of three former champions left in the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’m playing well. I probably need to up my scoring game because Luke is scoring really well, but if I put him under pressure, then it will be a good game. Luke is playing fantastic darts. I cannot take that away from him, but I’m here to win, and I’m not scared of anybody!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonny Clayton and Dirk van Duijvenbode will also go head-to-head for a semi-final spot, following wins over Luke Woodhouse and Daryl Gurney earlier in the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clayton defied a mid-game slump to run out a 3-1 winner against Woodhouse, pinning nine of his 18 attempts at a finishing double to advance to his third World Grand Prix quarter-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We both struggled at times. Luke gave me chances, and when that happens, you have to take them,”\u00a0admitted the 2021 champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Obviously I’m happy to win, but I need to get back on that practice board ready for tomorrow, and I will need a better performance than that. Dirk is playing well, but I know what I have to do, and that’s all that counts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Duijvenbode booked his place in the last eight with an emphatic straight-sets win over 2017 champion Gurney, averaging 96.4 to progress to his first televised quarter-final of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutchman won the opening eight legs of the contest without reply, before halting any prospect of a Gurney fightback with a magnificent match-winning 158 checkout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Usually when I play Daryl, he always finds ways to beat me,”\u00a0claimed 2020 runner-up Van Duijvenbode, who had lost four of his last five meetings against the Northern Irishman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Today he had three or four chances to hit ton-plus finishes, but he was not doing it, so I did! I got a bit nervous at the end because I could see him coming back, but to produce that 12-darter to win it made me very happy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The quarter-finals will take place on a bumper Friday evening session in Leicester, as Littler and Price renew their rivalry in the evening’s headline act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Clayton takes on Van Duijvenbode, world number one Luke Humphries plays Scottish star Cameron Menzies, while 2016 runner-up Gary Anderson faces Dutch number two Danny Noppert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Round Two matches<\/strong>: Dirk van Duijvenbode 3-0 Daryl Gurney (3-0, 3-0, 3-2); Jonny Clayton 3-1 Luke Woodhouse (3-1, 0-3, 3-1, 3-1); Luke Littler 3-0 Mike De Decker (3-1, 3-1, 3-0); Gerwyn Price 3-0 Josh Rock (3-1, 3-0, 3-0)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke Littler ended Mike De Decker’s reign as World Grand Prix champion to set up a blockbuster quarter-final<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-4387","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\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