World champion Luke Littler saw his winning run brought to a halt as he was edged out by Beau Greaves in a last-leg decider in the semi-finals of the PDC World Youth Championship in Wigan.
The 18-year-old had continued his superb recent form by dismantling rival Luke Humphries 6-1 in the World Grand Prix final in Leicester on Sunday night to land a fourth major trophy of the year.
Rather than taking some downtime after what Littler admitted had been a “brutal” double-start event in Leicester, the world champion was back at the oche at the Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan on Monday afternoon as part of the 128-strong field.
As expected, Littler – who also won the UK Open and World Matchplay to continue his dominance on the main PDC Tour – had no trouble in progressing from the initial round-robin stage, with the players split into 32 groups of four and the top two going on into the knockout stage.
After then comfortably seeing off Tom Garfield 6-2, averaging 102, before dispatching Ireland’s Ronan McDonagh 6-1 to move into the last 16, Littler found himself facing defeat against Charlie Manby.
The 20-year-old – who is fourth on the PDC Development Tour rankings – threatened a major upset when opening up a 3-1 lead and again at 5-3.
Littler, though, dug deep to survive match darts and take the final three legs of a high-scoring match in which both players averaged more than 102.
The quarter-final against Jamai van den Herik proved less dramatic, as Littler built on a fast start to close out a 6-1 win.
Three-time WDF women’s world champion Greaves – who is expected to accept a PDC Tour card for 2026-27 – had gone 2-1 up in the semi-final, before Littler responded with the next three legs.
Greaves – who has also won the PDC Women’s World Matchplay twice – produced a recovery of her own to level the match at 4-4 and then again at 5-5 to force a last-leg decider, which she took out on 80 as Littler slipped to a rare defeat despite a match average of 107.4.
Defending World Youth champion Gian van Veen came through the other side of the knockout draw, beating Sebastian Bialecki 6-4 in his semi-final.
The event’s final will be on November 23 at Butlin’s Minehead Resort, which will also be hosting the 2025 Players Championship Finals – where Littler is again expected to be among the leading contenders for another major PDC crown.
Littler took to social media to congratulate Greaves on her win and wish her well for the final, where the 21-year-old will bid for a first World Youth title.
Writing on his Instagram story, Littler said: “I had two 10-dart legs, missed double 12 for a nine and still couldn’t win. Fair play to Beau. All the best in Minehead. Some talent.”
PA
