Littler sets up van Gerwen rematch at Dutch Masters

Luke Littler set up a rematch of the World Darts Championship final against Michael van Gerwen after winning in the first round of the Dutch Masters in Den Bosch.

Newly crowned world champion Littler was not at his best but did enough to beat Belgian opponent Dimitri van den Bergh 6-4.

The 16-man knock-out tournament sees all eight best-of-11 first round ties on Friday night, with the quarter-finals, semis and final on Saturday.

And in his first tournament since turning 18 this week, Littler will face van Gerwen in the last eight in a repeat of the world championship final earlier this month, which Littler won 7-3.

Littler, who was beaten in the last eight of the Bahrain Masters last week, started strong with a 12-dart second leg, ending with a 134 check out.

But Van den Bergh broke him in the fourth leg to level at 2-2 with an 11-darter in what turned into a back and forth game, with four of the first six legs going against the throw.

Littler showed some vulnerability when throwing to go 5-4 up, busting with a double 16 while trying to hit the neighbouring double eight.

But Van den Bergh could not punish him and Littler took the leg at the second attempt before seeing out the match.

By contrast, Van Gerwen progressed with minimal fuss, dominating Dutch compatriot Dirk van Duijvenbode in a 6-1 win.

Earlier, there was a major upset as world number one Luke Humphries was beaten 6-3 by home hero Jermaine Wattimena, ranked 35th.

After going 2-0 down, Dutchman Wattimena won five successive legs while throwing some sensational darts in averaging 98.86, more than seven points higher than Humphries - before holding his nerve and his throw to spark wild celebrations.

Wattimena will face world number four Rob Cross in the quarter-finals, after the Englishman beat Richard Veenstra 6-3 in the opening match of the night.

The partisan crowd in Den Bosch had plenty to enjoy with seven of the eight first round matches featuring Dutch players.

And they were also thrilled as Raymond van Barneveld rolled back the years to stun Chris Dobey in an 11-leg thriller.

The 57-year-old was visibly emotional after taking out a 144 checkout in the final leg to beat Dobey 6-5, after the Englishman had missed a match dart.

This was one of numerous exciting games on Friday evening, and followed top seed Stephen Bunting narrowly seeing off Dutch hope Gian van Veen in another 11-leg battle.

Bunting is ranked first at this tournament after winning the Bahrain Masters last weekend, but the Liverpudlian was forced to a deciding leg by van Veen.

He held his nerve in the final set to beat the world youth champion 6-5 and proceed to the last eight where he will face van Barneveld.

The home fans were also delighted by home favourite Kevin Doets cruising to a 6-1 win over world number 11 Nathan Aspinall.

Doets will next play second seed Gerwyn Price, who comfortably beat Danny Noppert 6-2.