Luke Littler blows former World Darts champ Michael Smith away in stunning display as he completes Premier League set
LUKE LITTLER has completed the Premier League set – by finally beating Michael Smith.
The teen sensation averaged just shy of 107 as he walloped Michael Smith 6-2 in the quarter-finals of Night Five of the Prem in Exeter.
Smith, 33, had won their first encounter on the opening night of the £1million event in Cardiff but Littler empathically gained his revenge in Devon.
It means Littler has beaten all SEVEN of his Prem opponents at some point this year since turning professional.
The 17-year-old got the better of Rob Cross in the semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship on January 2 at Ally Pally.
Next up in Bahrain he beat Nathan Aspinall, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen in a row as he lifted the Golden Palm Tree trophy.
Littler’s next top-five victim was the world No.1 Luke Humphries at the Dutch Darts Masters in Den Bosch.
And then he took the scalp of Scotsman Peter Wright in the quarter-finals last week in Newcastle.
Despite his age and inexperience, Littler showed he can perform win on a wet, windy Thursday night and he did so having tinkered with his equipment.
It also means that Littler has beaten all the active PDC World Darts Champions except for Gary Anderson, though they have yet to meet on the pro circuit.
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Adrian Lewis, the two-time world champion, has taken a break from the sport for personal reasons.
Elsewhere, Van Gerwen’s winning streak was brought to an end in the quarter-finals by Humphries.
The Dutchman, 34, had won nine games in a row as he claimed the previous three Prem nights but a historic fourth victory was denied by Cool Hand Luke’s 6-3 success.
Littler will face Cross in the semi-final.
Van Gerwen had earlier claimed his fame would even greater than teen sensation Littler if he was English.
Quarter-final results
Luke Humphries 6-3 Michael van Gerwen
Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price 1-6 Rob Cross
Luke Littler 6-2 Michael Smith
The 34-year-old is a three-time world darts champion and winner of countless major trophies since breaking through as a prodigious 17-year-old.
The world No.2 had said: “Luke is English. If I was English, oh my God! Do you know what I mean? What it would have been like over the years.
“That’s the way. You have to accept it. You have to battle it. You have to face it. And you have to answer it.
“That’s what you do. Winning the battles.”
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