Michael van Gerwen deprived young player Luke Littler of obtaining the world championship title for the second time in a row after his defeat in the final of the Dutch Darts Masters tournament.
The Dutchman beat the teenager 8-6 in Den Bosch, avenging his loss to the 17-year-old last week in Bahrain, where Littler lifted the trophy.
Those wishing to recover from Losing in the final of the World Darts ChampionshipLittler faced Luke Humphries again – this time in the quarter-finals – and beat him in a thrilling match in the final stage.
Luke “The Nuke” then dispatched world number five Gerwen Price, before falling at the final hurdle to world number two Van Gerwen.
Van Gerwen survived scares against Raymond van Barneveld and Gian van Veen to reach the final but stepped up when it mattered.
Michael van Gerwen wins the competition. Photo: AP
Despite Littler outscoring his opponent with an average of 106.71 and throwing more 180s than Van Gerwen, the Dutchman punished the Warrington teenager by finishing on 85 points and securing the 12-bet victory.
Littler said after the match that he pressured Van Gerwen but he “made no mistake” and “finally got me in the end”.
He told ITV: “I hope I'm not exhausted in the Premier League next week! I can't wait to go to Cardiff.”
Meanwhile, Van Gerwen congratulated Littler, saying he had a “bright future” ahead of him and praised his “scoring power”.
Littler after his victory over Van Gerwen in the final of the Bahrain Darts Masters Championship last week. Pic: PA
Referring to his victory, Van Gerwen said: “I needed my best performance. We all know I had some really tough games last year and I underperformed a lot of times. You have to make sure you keep your fighting spirit up.”
Littler and Humphreys will face off again on Thursday, with the duo wrapping up their quarter-final clashes on the opening night of the BetMGM Premier League in Cardiff.
Defending champion Van Gerwen begins his bid to win a record eighth Premier League title with last year's world champion Michael Smith.
