About the time it takes to make a cup of tea, that's how long it took Luke Littler to win the first set, and since then, there was no catching the 17-year-old in his supersonic quest for a place in the tournament on Thursday night. semi-finals at Alexandra Palace.
Nathan Aspinall is an excellent competitor, ranked in the top 10 in the world, but the 33-year-old found himself trailing 1-0 three minutes and 33 seconds into this match as he walked backstage for the first break wondering what he was up to. had hit. .
Aspinall fought back with a set here and there, but struggled to turn this clash into a true contest overall, with Littler triumphing 5-2 as the tournament favorite posted 15 maximums and an average of 101.54.
Littler will face Stephen Bunting after defeating Peter Wright 5-2 in his own quarter-final, and the teenager said after his victory: “It feels like last year.” I am playing with absolute confidence, with freedom and now to the semifinals. I don't like having days off because I don't practice. So tomorrow we get up and go again.'
Alexandra Palace is a chaotic place; The highlight was seeing six guys dressed as seagulls chasing a guy dressed as a sausage roll, but Littler was calm personified on stage.
Littler and Aspinall share the same manager, Martin Foulds. The two are close, however, if this opening set was evidence of how the teen treats his friends, you'd hate to be his enemy.
Luke Littler was all smiles as he booked his place in the World Championship semi-finals.
Aspinall had his moments, but Littler always kept him at arm's length.
Littler produced magical moments and is one step closer to becoming world champion
Littler seemed as mechanically reliable as a metronome. As soon as he took the stage, he came off it, having blanked Aspinall while securing that set via double deuce.
When Littler took a 2-0 lead, his average was 111.29 to Aspinall's 94.47. Aspinall found himself “walking in Littler's wonderland,” as the crowd sang here, and he looked like a cup of sack.
But then he discovered a way out of what seemed like a dead end. It came in the form of a check out of 41 that allowed him to reduce the lead to 2-1.
Littler went back to work and with an 11-dart leg made it 3-1. While leading 4-1, he surpassed a half-century of 180 in this year's tournament, but Aspinall made a checkout of 70 to make it 4-2.
Good sportsmanship was shown and the two congratulated each other on their payments. It was with a single dart into double tops that Littler sealed victory to set up a showdown with Bunting and guarantee himself prize money of at least £100,000.
Bunting, the 39-year-old Englishman nicknamed 'The Bullet', briefly managed to hold back tears to say: “It's a pinch myself moment.” “I want to win this title more than anyone in the world.”
In the afternoon session at Ally Pally, three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen overcame this year's 300-1 surprise package, Callan Rydz, to reach Thursday's semi-finals.
Van Gerwen's 5-3 win over Rydz means he will face another hurler from the small Northumberland town of Bedlington: Chris Dobey, the Geordie who also won 5-3 by ignoring the guile of 2021 champion Gerwyn Price. earlier that day.
Littler to play Stephen Bunting after 'The Bullet' beat Peter Wright
On the other side of the draw, Michael van Gerwen beat Callan Rydz in a high-quality match.
Van Gerwen will face Chris Dobey after the Englishman overcame his nerves to beat Gerwyn Price
(item name = module id = 124549765 style = undefined /)
'MvG' triumphed at Ally Pally in 2014, 2017 and 2019, and the 35-year-old Dutchman, once considered a threat to Phil 'The Power' Taylor's tally of 16 world titles, was overdue for a fourth crown .
He was made to work to win by Rydz, who racked up 17 highs to his 14, averaged 103.88 to his 103.10, and was indifferent to putting up impressive results.
“You have to maintain it,” Van Gerwen said. 'I want to have steak for dinner every night of the week, but you have to make sure you keep eating it without problems. This was good, but I have to do it again.
'I never underestimate anyone. You must maintain this form, otherwise you will have to take the train home, simple as that.'
Dobey faltered midway through his match, this being the stage when he led 4-0 over Rob Cross in last year's quarter-finals, but managed to lose 5-4 in an almighty collapse. Price applied pressure by delaying his opponent's shots with overzealous celebrations, but after triumphing 5-3, Dobey said, “I thought in my head, 'Please, not again.'” It's hard to explain how nervous I was. Voodoo “It's already forgotten. I have literally taken the next step in my career.”