Luke Littler breezes through to the World Darts Championship semi-finals as 17-year-old superstar dominates Nathan Aspinall to set up Stephen Bunting showdown and guarantee himself at least £100,000

About as long as it takes to make yourself a cup of tea, that’s the time it took Luke Littler to win the first set, and from then on the 17-year-old was unstoppable in his supersonic quest for a place in the final on Thursday evening. semi-finals at Alexandra Palace.

Nathan Aspinall is a fine competitor and ranks in the top 10 in the world, yet the 33-year-old found himself 1-0 down within three minutes and 33 seconds of the start of this match as he walked backstage for the first break and wondered what happened to him. .

Aspinall fought back with a set here and there but struggled to turn this clash into a real match, with Littler triumphing 5-2 as the tournament favorite achieved 15 maximums and an average of 101.54.

Littler will face Stephen Bunting after beating Peter Wright 5-2 in his own quarter-final, and the teenager said after his win: ‘It feels like last year. I play with absolute confidence, with freedom, and now on to the semi-finals. I don’t like days off because I don’t exercise. So tomorrow we wake up and go again.”

Alexandra Palace is a chaotic place – a highlight was seeing six guys dressed as seagulls chasing a guy in a sausage roll costume – but Littler was calm personified on stage.

Littler and Aspinall share the same manager, Martin Foulds. The two are close, but if this opening set were proof of how the teen treats his friends, you’d hate to be his enemy.

Aspinall had his moments, but was always kept at arm’s length by Littler

Littler provided magical moments and is one step closer to becoming world champion

Littler looked mechanically as reliable as a metronome. As soon as he stepped onto the stage he climbed off, having whitewashed Aspinall when he secured that set via double sculls.

When Littler took a 2-0 lead his average was 111.29 to Aspinall’s 94.47. Aspinall found himself ‘walking into a Littler wonderland’ as the crowd here sang, and it was like a kop de sac.

But then he discovered a way out of what seemed like a dead end. It came in the form of a 41 checkout, allowing him to halve the deficit to 2-1.

Littler went back to work, with a leg of 11 darts it became 3-1. While leading 4-1, he surpassed a half-century of 180s at this year’s tournament, but Aspinall took a 70 checkout to make it 4-2.

There was good sportsmanship and the two congratulated each other at the tills. It was with a single dart into double tops that Littler sealed the victory, setting up a showdown with Bunting and guaranteeing himself prize money of at least £100,000.

Bunting, the 39-year-old Englishman nicknamed ‘The Bullet’, managed to hold back tears for a moment and said: ‘It’s a pinch-me moment. I want to win this title more than anyone in the world.”

In the afternoon session at Ally Pally, three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen overcame the courage of this year’s 300-1 surprise package, Callan Rydz, to reach Thursday’s semi-finals.

Van Gerwen’s 5-3 victory over Rydz means he will meet another hurler from the small Northumberland town of Bedlington in Chris Dobey, the Geordie who also won 5-3 when he saw the gamesmanship of 2021 champions earlier in the day Gerwyn Price ignored.

Littler will next star as Stephen Bunting after ‘The Bullet’ took out Peter Wright

At the other end of the draw, Michael van Gerwen got past Callan Rydz in a high-quality encounter

Van Gerwen will face Chris Dobey after the Englishman overcame his nerves to beat Gerwyn Price

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‘MvG’ triumphed at Ally Pally in 2014, 2017 and 2019, with the 35-year-old Dutchman, once tipped to threaten Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor’s total of 16 world titles, chasing a fourth crown.

He was made to work for the win by Rydz, who hit 17 maximums to his 14, averaged 103.88 to his 103.10 and was nonchalant about securing impressive box office returns.

“You have to maintain it,” said Van Gerwen. ‘I want to eat steak every night of the week, but you have to make sure you eat it smoothly. This was fun, but I have to do it again.

‘I never underestimate anyone. You must keep this form, otherwise you will be on the train home, it’s that simple.’

Dobey wobbled midway through his match, this being the stage when he was 4-0 up against Rob Cross in the quarter-finals last year but managed to lose 5-4 in an almighty collapse. Price applied pressure by delaying his opponent’s throws with overzealous celebrations, but after winning 5-3, Dobey said, “Thoughts went through my head: ‘Please not again.’ It’s hard to explain how nervous it was. The hoodoo, it’s forgotten now. I did it. I literally took that next step in my career.”