{"id":4431,"date":"2025-10-11T08:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T00:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=4431"},"modified":"2025-10-11T08:33:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T00:33:02","slug":"littler-battles-back-from-brink-to-sink-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/littler-battles-back-from-brink-to-sink-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Littler battles back from brink to sink Price"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Luke Littler fought back from the brink to deny Gerwyn Price in an astonishing quarter-final tie at the World Grand Prix in Leicester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Littler overturned a two-set deficit to topple 2020 champion Price in a contest littered with drama, converting a magical 152 finish in a deciding-leg thriller to preserve his title hopes at the Mattioli Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The World Champion was staring down the barrel of a straight-sets defeat against a fired-up Price, before briefly banishing his doubling woes with a 107 average in set three to halve the deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Littler then survived three match darts to restore parity in the fourth, having summoned up a skin-saving 154 checkout just moments prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Warrington wonderkid continued his charge to lead 2-0 in the fifth and decisive set, only for Price to hit back with a brilliant 156 outshot to set up a fascinating last-leg shoot-out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both players failed to pin a starting double with their first visit in the decider, but with Price poised on a potential two-darter for victory, Littler had the final say, converting an astonishing 152 to complete the comeback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;What a strange game,&#8221;\u00a0claimed Littler, who will take on 2021 champion Jonny Clayton in Saturday&#8217;s semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When I was 2-0 down, I just said to myself: &#8216;It&#8217;s now or never. You have to switch on! In that last leg we were both feeling the nerves and both giving it a little bit, but I&#8217;m just so glad I was able to hit that winning double.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clayton raced through to the last four following a straight-sets demolition of Dirk van Duijvenbode, converting a hat-trick of ton-plus checkouts in sweeping aside the 2020 runner-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Duijvenbode won the opening leg of the contest before Clayton rattled off nine without reply, producing 112, 118 and 130 combinations to cap off a finishing masterclass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I knew I had to produce something close to my A-game tonight,&#8221;\u00a0insisted Clayton, who has reached the semi-finals of every televised ranking event this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Dirk and I are big mates backstage. He&#8217;s a character and a great player, so I&#8217;m glad to get over that line. I&#8217;ve got a smile on my face. It&#8217;s going to be a difficult game tomorrow, but I&#8217;m still here, so watch out!&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clayton will be joined in the semi-finals by 2023 champion Luke Humphries, who overcame the challenge of Cameron Menzies to advance to a third consecutive World Grand Prix semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The world number one fended off a blistering mid-game burst from the Scot to complete a 3-1 success, averaging 91, landing five 180s and pinning 46% of his attempts at double in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I felt amazing tonight,&#8221; declaredHumphries, also last year&#8217;s runner-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I thought my scoring was brilliant. My doubling-in wasn&#8217;t as good, so now I&#8217;m just waiting for them both to click together. I&#8217;ve slowed my throw down recently and I feel really relaxed. I always strive for more, and maybe this is a new version of me starting to come out.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Humphries will take on Danny Noppert for a place in Sunday&#8217;s showpiece, after the Dutchman advanced to his second double-start semi-final with a 3-1 victory over 2016 runner-up Gary Anderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anderson drew first blood courtesy of a majestic 158 finish on the bull, although Noppert fought back superbly, wrapping up victory with a clinical 92 kill after the Scot had missed a dart at tops to force a final set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I am speechless,&#8221;\u00a0admitted the former UK Open champion, who pinned 11 of his 18 attempts at a finishing double to triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It was a rollercoaster of a game, but I&#8217;m really happy to be in the semi-finals! What a game it was. I felt really nervous at times, but it was a great finish at the end!&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The World Grand Prix continues with a bumper night of semi-final action on Saturday, as Humphries takes on Noppert in the evening&#8217;s opener, before Littler and Clayton renew their rivalry on the big stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RESULTS<br>Quarter-Finals<\/strong>: Danny Noppert 3-1 Gary Anderson (2-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-2); Jonny Clayton 3-0 Dirk van Duijvenbode (3-1, 3-0, 3-0); Luke Littler 3-2 Gerwyn Price (1-3, 0-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-2); Luke Humphries 3-1 Cameron Menzies (3-0, 1-3, 3-1, 3-0)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luke Littler fought back from the brink to deny Gerwyn Price in an astonishing quarter-final tie at the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4432,"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":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-4431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed.jpg",2000,1333,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed-1024x682.jpg",640,426,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed.jpg",2000,1333,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/category\/international\/\" rel=\"category tag\">International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPQF_Littler08_compressed.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4433,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions\/4433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}