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Louise Thomas
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Luke Littler crashed out at the first hurdle on his World Grand Prix debut as he was surprisingly beaten by Rob Cross.
Seventeen-year-old darts sensation Littler was the favourite to win the double-start event and despite registering six 180s, he was below his best and averaged a fraction over 94 as Cross claimed a 2-1 victory.
Cross, the 2018 world champion who has not gone past the second round in seven previous tries in this tournament, had an 80 per cent success rate on the finishing doubles to claim victory in Leicester.
“My record in this tournament isn’t great, so I’m delighted to get over that winning line,” Cross told the PDC’s official website.
Cross will next take on Martin Schindler, who bagged a 2-0 win over former finalist Brendan Dolan.
Defending champion Luke Humphries survived a major scare in his opening encounter and was one leg away from being dumped out by Stephen Bunting.
Humphries lost the first set and trailed 2-0 in the second, but rallied to win three consecutive legs to force a decider. The world No 1 then reeled off three out of four legs for a hard-fought 2-1 win.
“These are the games you live for” said Humphries, who next takes on Ricardo Pietreczko in the last 16. “Stephen was very unlucky there. He was the better player overall, but I never gave in and that is a true champion’s attitude.
“As soon as I won the first leg, I knew the opportunity was there, and I worked incredibly hard to get myself back into the game.”
Pietreczko claimed a 2-1 win over five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, while world No 5 Nathan Aspinall was clinical in the final leg, executing double three to checkout and beat Ryan Searle 2-1.
Wales’ Jonny Clayton eased to a 2-0 win over Ritchie Edhouse, Ryan Joyce beat 23-year-old Josh Rock by the same scoreline, as did Ross Smith, who averaged nearly 102, over Gian van Veen.
