LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) – England’s Luke Littler thrashed Dutchman Gian van Veen to win the PDC World Darts title for the second successive year in front of a raucous Alexandra Palace crowd on Saturday.
The 18-year-old dropped the first set in the best-of-13-set showdown but hit back to stamp his authority on Van Veen who had no answer to Litter’s relentless scoring.
World number one Littler never looked troubled, apart from during the brief appearance of a wasp, banging in 180s and high checkouts as he wrapped up a 7-1 victory to claim the one million pounds ($1.35 million) first prize.
He is the first player to win back-to-back titles since Scotland’s Gary Anderson in 2016.
Littler’s victory charge was briefly interrupted during a dazzling spell of nine successive legs as the board needed to be replaced after Van Veen cut his hand and left a small blob of blood on the surface.
Van Veen stopped the rot to win a leg in the eighth set but the laser-like focus of Littler was unbroken as he turned the final stages of the contest into a procession, sealing the title with a 147 checkout.
($1 = 0.7432 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon)
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