Luke Littler impresses to reach Bahrain Masters quarter-finals

Luke Littler has reached the Bahrain Masters quarter-finals with a 6-3 victory over Man Lok Leung.

As reward for reaching the World Championship final over the Christmas and New Year period, the 16-year-old has been rewarded with a wildcard for the Premier League which starts next month.

Opportunities have also arisen in the first two World Series events with the teenager hitting three ton-plus checkouts to overcome Leung, the Hong Kong representative who also recently impressed at Alexandra Palace.

In two of the legs, Littler wasted a hatful of darts at double, initially allowing Leung to move 2-0 ahead with finishes of 107 and 85 respectively.

However, Littler would respond with 151 and 136 checkouts in back-to-back legs to help him move 5-2 in front, and he eventually prevailed with a 120 finish.

DEVASTATING FROM LITTLER 😳

No sign of rust from Luke Littler as he recovers from 2-0 down to beat Man Lok Leung and reach the Quarter-Finals in Bahrain.

His first World Series event is up and running ✅ pic.twitter.com/PlooIGZF5T

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 18, 2024

Littler averaged 97.92 in setting up a last-eight showdown with Nathan Aspinall, who survived two match darts to see off Lourence Ilagan by a 6-5 scoreline.

Peter Wright was also taken to a last-leg decider by Haruki Muramatsu before getting over the line, while Rob Cross overcome another Japanese player in Tomoya Goto with a 6-3 victory.

Later in the night, Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen completed whitewash victories over local qualifiers Abdulla Saeed and Hasan Haji respectively.

Meanwhile, Michael Smith concluded the action by recording a 6-5 victory over Paolo Nebrida, who missed two darts to beat the defending champion in the deciding leg.