Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Jonathan Gorrie

Luke Littler hits nine-darter to win European Tour on debut against Rob Cross

Luke Littler hit a nine-dart finish in a remarkable European Tour debut.

The darts sensation won the Belgian Open with an 8-7 win against Rob Cross, hitting the nine-darter to go 6-5 up.

Littler's victory included six maximums compared to his opponent's five in a see-saw battle.

Cross averaged 108 for the match and Littler 104, but it was the latter who collected the £30,000 winner's prize.

Littler, who also hit a nine-darter when winning on his World Series debut, said afterwards: "I'm just glad to get over the line.

"I hit the nine and then lost the next two legs, so I'm just glad to get over the line. It's always good to be involved in a good game.

Littler continues to take the darts world by storm (Getty Images)

"Like Rob said just then, I bring the best out of him and he's thankful for that, so we always push ourselves to the last leg."

Cross, competing in his ninth European Tour final after beating Gerwyn Price 7-3 in the last four, could not hide his disappointment, but saluted the victor.

"He really pushes on," Cross said. "I wanted a big display and got a big display. To be fair I missed a few chances, but I've loved this crowd this weekend.

"This young man has got such a bright future in front of him. The nine-darter was impeccable, amazing. This boy's special."

Earlier on Sunday, Littler beat Damon Heta 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals and after seeing off Jermaine Wattimena 6-2, he overcame Ricardo Pietreczko 7-3 in the last four.

Littler's maiden European Tour win was tarnished following stinging criticism of him by Pietreczko after the German's semi-final defeat.

The pair appeared to exchange words on stage after their match and Pietreczko later said in a post on Instagram: "So I appreciated him a lot, that you can play such a game at such a (young) age, but I hope the arrogance punishes him."

Littler responded on Twitter by saying: "No idea what I did wrong, no idea what he said, something then don't do it again."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.