Luke Littler sets up Michael van Gerwen rematch in Dutch Masters quarter-finals

Luke Littler had to scrap his way into the quarter-finals at the Dutch Masters in Den Bosch.

The world champion, playing in his first tournament since turning 18 on Tuesday, battled past Belgium’s Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4.

After some uncharacteristic loose darts in the early stages, Littler needed a 102 checkout to level the match at 4-4.

He survived busting in the next leg, drifting into double 16 while aiming for double eight, to move ahead and then finished the job with one dart at his favourite double 10.

Littler will meet defending champion Michael van Gerwen, who wasted little time in demolishing fellow Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-1, in the last eight in a repeat of the Alexandra Palace final three weeks ago.

World number one Luke Humphries was a surprise first-round casualty against dangerous Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena.

Humphries won the first two legs but was powerless to prevent Wattimena reeling off the next five, including finishes of 153 and 111.

The 2024 world champion held his throw to stop the rot but Wattimena, averaging almost 10 points more than Humphries, hit double 12 at the second attempt – having almost missed the board with his first – to seal a 6-3 win

Raymond van Barneveld rolled back the years with a stunning victory over Chris Dobey.

The five-time world champion, 57, won a dramatic deciding set with a 144 checkout, after Dobey had missed double 19, to take the match 6-5.

Nathan Aspinall also crashed out to Kevin Doets, who hit a 138 finish on his way to a 6-1 victory.

But it was a better night for the other PDC stars against Dutch opposition.

Stephen Bunting, last week’s winner in Bahrain, began his bid for back-to-back World Series titles by edging out 22-year-old world youth champion Gian van Veen 6-5.

Rob Cross bounced back from his first-round exit in Bahrain by beating Richard Veenstra 6-3 and Gerwyn Price swept past Danny Noppert 6-2.