Joe McConnell
Luke Littler has reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Darts Masters and is aiming to win his eighth PDC title of the year.
The 17-year-old, whose 2024 tournament wins include the Premier League Darts, beat local qualifier Rob Modra 6-2 in Wollongong to set up a quarter-final meeting with Michael Smith on Saturday.
Modra missed a dart to level his match with Littler at 3-3 and the top seed made his opponent pay the price to stay in contention for a third World Series title of 2024, after the Bahrain Masters and Poland Masters.
Smith had earlier defeated Stuart Coburn 6-2, capping his victory with finishes of over a ton, while there was also a routine win for world No.1 Luke Humphries, who secured a 6-1 demolition of Joe Comito with a 120 checkout.
Luke Humpries defeated Joe Comito 6-1 in Wollongong
The eight PDC players – Littler, Smith, Humphries, Gerwyn Price, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Peter Wright, Damon Heta and Rob Cross – earned their spots via the World Series order of merit.
They were joined in the competition by eight regional qualifiers, including 2010 World Championship runner-up Simon Whitlock.
The tournament will conclude on Saturday with the best-of-11 quarterfinals, followed by the best-of-13 semifinals, before the best-of-15 final.
Australian Darts Masters – first round results
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Jeremy Fagg
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Brenton Lloyd
Michael Smith 6-2 Stuart Coburn
Luke Humphries 6-1 Joe Comito
Luca Littler 6-2 Rob Modra
Peter Wright vs. Simon Whitlock
Damon Heta vs. John Hurring
Rob Cross vs Haupai Puha
Australian Darts Masters Quarter Finals
Luke Littler vs. Michael Smith
Luke Humphries vs. Dimitri Van den Bergh
Rob Cross/Haupai Puha vs. Peter Wright/Simon Whitlock
Gerwyn Price vs. Damon Heta/John Hurring
Vscek+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, the NOW streaming service and the Vscek app, giving Vscek customers access to over 50% more live sport this year, at no extra cost.
