Darting sensation Luke Littler stole the headlines once again as he claimed the 2024 Blåkläder Belgian Darts Open in Weize on his PDC European Tour debut and with it, the £30,000 winners prize.

The tournament reached its conclusion on Sunday with the entire third round played in the afternoon and the quarter finals onwards played in the evening. This was after the opening two rounds of the tournament had been played across Friday and Saturday.

Nuke Overcomes Cross To Become Champ

Having beat Jose de Sousa and Krzysztof Ratajski in the opening two rounds, Luke Littler came into Sunday facing the man that had dumped him out of the UK Open last weekend in Damon Heta, Littler gaining his revenge by winning four legs on the spin from 3-2 down to advance in the evening session.

In the quarter finals, he defeated surprise package of the weekend Jermaine Wattimena, a 160 checkout and 110 average forming part of a 6-2 win before Ricardo Pietreczko was beaten 7-3 in the semi final, the German player having words with Littler at the end of the match, much to the 17 year olds bemusement.

His opponent in the final was Rob Cross, the former World Champion sweeping aside Danny Noppert for the loss of a single leg in the afternoon before seeing off Ryan Searle 6-2 in the quarter finals. That set up a semi final with Gerwyn Price, Cross’ better performance on the outer ring helping him to a 7-3 win.

After a pair of opening holds, it was Cross who drew first blood, breaking the Littler throw in 15 darts to go 2-1 ahead before holding the following leg in 13 darts to open up the first two leg cushion of the match.

The 17 year old responded by taking the next three legs on the spin to get his nose in front at 4-3, only for Cross to hit back by taking the next two in 13 and 15 darts respectively.

Littler levelled matters at 5-5 before taking the eleventh leg with a perfect nine darts, following up an opening 177 with a maximum before taking out a seemingly nerveless 144. Cross, to his credit, could only stand and applaud.

The impeccable standard continued as the pair exchanged maximums in the next leg, Cross taking out 81 in two darts for an 11 darter and six apiece.

Littler opened the next leg with a 177 but it was Cross that created the break opportunity with back to back 140s before taking out 121 on the bull for a 7-6 lead and within a leg of the title.

The match got the deciding leg it deserved as ‘The Nuke’ pinned double five with his last dart in hand as Cross waited on double ten and he fired in his sixth maximum in the decider before finishing in 14 darts to claim the title.

Cross denied despite finishing with a 108 average while Littler looks well on course for a World Matchplay debut after his win.

Rest of Sunday’s Action

Sunday’s afternoon session saw Ryan Searle get the better of World Champion Luke Humphries before losing out to Rob Cross in the quarter finals.

Mike De Decker carried home hopes on his shoulders going into Sunday but those hopes were dashed when he lost to Stephen Bunting in the afternoon session. Bunting then fell to Gerwyn Price despite averaging almost 103.

Jonny Clayton showed some form by reaching the quarter finals before being defeated by Ricardo Pietreczko while Jermaine Wattimena reached his first Euro Tour Sunday in five years before losing to eventual winner Littler.

Results

Third Round

Afternoon Session

Ricardo Pietreczko 6-4 Ryan Joyce

Jonny Clayton 6-4 Peter Wright

Luke Littler 6-3 Damon Heta

Jermaine Wattimena 6-3 Joe Cullen

Ryan Searle 6-3 Luke Humphries

Rob Cross 6-1 Danny Noppert

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Gary Anderson

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Mike De Decker

Evening Session

Quarter-Finals

Ricardo Pietreczko 6-2 Jonny Clayton

Luke Littler 6-2 Jermaine Wattimena

Rob Cross 6-2 Ryan Searle

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Stephen Bunting

Semi-Finals

Luke Littler 7-3 Ricardo Pietreczko

Rob Cross 7-3 Gerwyn Price

Final

Luke Littler 8-7 Rob Cross