Luke Littler continued his defence of the Grand Slam of Darts with a dominant victory over Wessel Nijman, as Danny Noppert accounted for Michael van Gerwen in a captivating all-Dutch affair on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day Six of the \u00a3650,000 event saw Round Two draw to a close in Wolverhampton, as Josh Rock and Lukas Wenig completed the quarter-final line-up at WV Active Aldersley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Littler stole the headlines with a devastating doubling display, averaging almost 106 to set up a blockbuster quarter-final clash against Rock on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reigning champion Littler powered into a five-leg lead to leave Nijman staring down the barrel, landing a hat-trick of 15-darters and legs of 13 and 12 darts to assert his dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nijman won three of the next four legs to threaten a stirring fightback, but the Dutchman paid the price for spurning three darts in a crucial tenth leg, which would have reduced the arrears to 6-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Littler took full advantage to wrap up an emphatic victory, registering 12 and 11-dart holds to triumph with an astonishing 83% checkout success rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Wessel and I have had our battles in the past, so to get that win over him was special,”\u00a0insisted Littler, who has won 11 consecutive games on the Grand Slam stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I had to switch on tonight. I’ve won titles like the World Matchplay coming back from 5-0 down, but tonight I wanted to prove a point and start strongly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I know if I get to the final I’ll be world number one, so I’m taking it game by game and hopefully Josh and I can have another great game like we did at the World Matchplay.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Littler will now renew his rivalry with Rock in a repeat of their epic semi-final clash in July’s World Matchplay, after the Northern Irishman edged out Connor Scutt to triumph in a last-leg shoot-out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World Cup champion punished a profligate start from Scutt to race into a 3-0 lead, before overcoming a mid-game slump to seal his progress with a 14-dart hold in the decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We both didn’t play as well as we could tonight,”\u00a0reflected Rock, who converted a brace of ton-plus checkouts on his way to victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’ve never missed the treble 20 as much in my life. I just couldn’t hit the treble 20 at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I am absolutely grateful I won that game, but I did not deserve to win. I need to wake up after that game.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Van Gerwen’s bid for a fourth Grand Slam of Darts crown was derailed by a superb Noppert, who came out on top in a high-quality contest against his former World Cup partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noppert led 3-2 following a sensational opening session which featured 170 checkouts from both players, as well as a 160 combination from Van Gerwen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former UK Open champion Noppert was averaging 112 in the opening exchanges, and Van Gerwen was unable to live with his compatriot’s consistency, succumbing 10-6 despite landing eight 180s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was a rollercoaster. I think I coped well under pressure, so I’m really happy,”\u00a0claimed Noppert, who will take on Wenig for a place in the semi-finals – in a repeat of their dramatic Group H encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Over the whole game I played well. Everything went my way, but in the end I was a little bit nervous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If I keep playing like this and maintain this form, I think there will be problems for everyone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wenig, meanwhile, recorded a landmark 10-8 victory over his fellow countryman Niko Springer in advancing to his maiden televised quarter-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having secured top spot in Group H, the unheralded German continued his breakthrough run with a clinical display of doubling in Wolverhampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Springer made the early running, but a sensational 154 checkout from Wenig in leg nine sparked the turnaround, with the 31-year-old winning four of the last five legs to prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t find words for this, this is so amazing,”\u00a0admitted Wenig, who also won four matches in last month’s Tour Card Holder Qualifier to seal his qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The stage has not been my friend, I have had really big problems up there, so to go to the quarter-finals really is unbelievable.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The quarter-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts begin later today, as world number one Luke Humphries faces Michael Smith in a battle of the former Grand Slam champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, three-time winner Gerwyn Price takes on Ricky Evans, who is featuring in his maiden Grand Slam of Darts quarter-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong> Luke Littler continued his defence of the Grand Slam of Darts with a dominant victory over Wessel Nijman,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5997,"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-5993","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\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
Second Round<\/strong>: Lukas Wenig 10-8 Niko Springer; Josh Rock 10-9 Connor Scutt; Luke Littler 10-4 Wessel Nijman; Danny Noppert 10-6 Michael van Gerwen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"