Luke Littler survived a dramatic match against Nathan Aspinall to reach the quarterfinals of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam. Littler came back from 9-8 down to beat Aspinall 10-9 in a deciding leg on Saturday night.
Littler’s performance was marked by a strong finish after an uneven start. He held his throw in the 18th leg to tie the match at 9-9. He then opened the deciding leg with a 180 and completed a 12-darter to break Aspinall’s throw and win the match.
Littler said after the match that he and Aspinall bring out the best in each other. The two English players have produced several close matches in recent years. Littler also defeated Aspinall 11-8 at the World Matchplay in July.
England’s James Wade also advanced after defeating Wessel Nijman of the Netherlands. Wade won the second-round match 10-7 and averaged 101.40 during the victory.
Wade will face Gerwyn Price in the quarterfinals. Price advanced with a 10-5 victory over Jim Long. Littler will face Jonny Clayton after Clayton defeated Motomu Sakai 10-8.
The other quarterfinals will feature Ross Smith against Josh Rock and Dirk van Duijvenbode against Gian van Veen. Van Duijvenbode produced one of Saturday's biggest results by defeating Luke Humphries 10-9. Van Veen beat Karel Sedlacek 10-7.
Aspinall had reached the second round after overcoming a difficult start against Raymond Smith. He trailed 4-1 before coming back to win 6-4. Aspinall later said he had felt unwell during the match and had considered stopping before completing the comeback.
Against Littler, Aspinall stayed close throughout the match and moved ahead 9-8 before Littler responded. Littler won the final two legs to keep his tournament run alive. Sky Sports reported that the victory also kept alive Littler's attempt to complete a sweep of major PDC events in 2026.
The World Series of Darts Finals are being held at AFAS Live in Amsterdam. The tournament began Sept. 17 and ends Sept. 20. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Sunday afternoon with the semifinals and final following during the evening session.
The final match will determine who takes home the title in this year’s World Series of Darts. The winner will receive £100,000 while the runner-up will receive £60,000. The tournament has a total prize fund of £450,000.
