Luke Littler sets up World Championship final rematch with Luke Humphries in second round of European Darts Grand Prix in Germany; teenager trounces Arno Merk 6-0, averaging 101; Raymond van Barneveld also through and will meet Michael Smith on Saturday but Peter Wright and Joe Cullen out
Friday 19 April 2024 22:09, UK
Luke Littler set up a blockbuster showdown with world No 1 Luke Humphries at the European Darts Grand Prix in Germany after breezing through his opening match on Friday night.
Littler swept Germany's Arno Merk 6-0 while averaging 101 and will now face Humphries in the last 32 in a repeat of January's World Championship final, which Humphries won 7-4 in sets.
Littler and Humphries will clash on Saturday night in Sindelfingen, with defending champion Rob Cross, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith also in action that day as the 16 seeded players begin their tournaments in the second round.
Round three takes place on Sunday afternoon before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are staged later that evening.
Daryl Gurney, Brendan Dolan and Raymond van Barneveld were among the round-one winners on Friday night - Van Barneveld will now face Smith in the next stage
But Peter Wright squandered two match darts in the decider to lose 6-5 to Mickey Mansell, while 2022 Masters champion Joe Cullen was knocked out by Johan Engstrom as he missed out on a second-round meeting with Van Gerwen.
Nathan Aspinall, who won Night 12 of Premier League Darts in Rotterdam on Thursday, has opted out of the tournament for personal reasons, while reigning UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh is absent through illness.
Cross defeated Humphries 8-6 in the 2023 final, after Humphries had edged Cross 8-7 to win the 2022 edition.
The 2024 tournament is the fourth leg of this year's PDC European Tour with Littler (Belgian Darts Open), Humphries (German Darts Grand Prix) and Martin Schindler (International Darts Open) triumphing in the first three events.
Leg five, the Austrian Darts Open, takes place in Graz between Friday April 26 and Sunday April 28, with Jonny Clayton the defending champion after seeing off Josh Rock in the 2023 final.
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