Luke Littler has continued his sensational rise to the top of darts by winning the Belgian Darts Open on his EuroTour debut.
Not only did the 17-year-old record an 8-7 victory over Rob Cross in the final in Wieze, he hit a nine-darter during the closing stages of that match.
Littler identified tournaments such as the one in Belgium as one of his priority targets at the beginning of the year as he bids to make the World Matchplay in July.
To reach the final, the World Championship runner-up defeated Jose De Sousa, Krzysztof Ratajski, Damon Heta, Jermaine Wattimena and Ricardo Pietreczko, who bizarrely responded to losing to Littler in the semi-finals in an aggressive manner.
However, Littler remained unfazed as he defeated Cross in a deciding leg in the final, with Cross somehow losing when he averaged exactly 108 compared to 103.76 for Littler.
LITTLER HITS A NINE-DARTER! ☢️🔥
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 10, 2024
LUKE LITTLER HAS STRUCK PERFECTION IN THE FINAL!
It's yet more history from The Nuke as he pins a perfect leg in the final of his Euro Tour debut!
Starboy.
Watch the final 👉 https://t.co/YyBPPwoMK8 pic.twitter.com/e6XLwUuuEZ
The highlight moment came in the 11th leg when Littler recorded a second nine-dart leg on stage in the space of less than two months after his perfect leg at the Bahrain Masters.
To Cross's credit, he responded with 81 and 121 checkouts to move one away from the title, but Littler held his nerve to win the most notable title of his career thus far.
Furthermore, as well as moving into 28th position in the PDC Order of Merit, Littler is almost guaranteed a spot in the World Matchplay as he now sits in fifth spot in the ProTour rankings with more than a £21,000 advantage over 17th place.
