Luke Littler completes stirring comeback to beat Jermaine Wattimena as Michael van Gerwyn knocked out
Littler twice fell behind before pulling through to win 13-11 at the World Matchplay
Luke Littler dug himself out of a massive hole to stay alive in the World Matchplay with a tense 13-11 win over Jermaine Wattimena.
Littler fell 4-0 and 7-2 behind but charged back into an 8-7 lead, the match then going to a tiebreaker before the teenager made it into the quarter-finals.
Littler looked in ominous form with his crushing 10-2 win over Ryan Searle on Sunday but the tables were turned early on here.
Wattimena meant business and stormed into a 4-0 lead that left heads spinning in the Winter Gardens.
Littler took the next two but it was only a temporary reprieve as Wattimena rediscovered his rhythm, making it 7-2 with back-to-back 180s part of an 11-darter.
When Littler pulled back the next leg he gestured to the crowd, pointing to the world champion’s star on his shirt as he indicated he was not ready to go home yet.
And he then set about showing it as he won six legs on the spin, the pressure clearly getting to Wattimena as his earlier poise vanished.
The Dutchman recovered to level at 8-8, then punished a Littler miss for 9-9 as the contest went the distance.
As it went to extra legs both players were missing their throws before Littler got the D10 he needed to end the fight.
“When I pointed to the star on my shirt, I’m a world champion for a reason, I find these gears when I need it,” Littler said on Sky Sports.
“I’ve not felt pressure like that since the first round of the world championship. I was a bit nervous and it’s on to my third game here, I’ve won two of them.
“I want to get back on stage and right now I can’t wait to be in the quarter-final.”
Earlier Gerwyn Price stormed through with an 11-3 rout of Chris Dobey.
Price left Dobey with little chance, averaging 108.73 and hitting eight 180s in a performance highlighted by a 146 finish that put him 3-0 up.
“It was fantastic,” the Welshman said. “The middle part of the game I felt like I couldn’t miss. I put Chris under a lot of pressure. I think he still played decent in patches.
“I think early on we were both flying and I was just pipping him on a couple of legs, probably disheartened him a little bit. It’s a good game for me.”
Former UK champion Andrew Gilding made it through to the last eight with an 11-5 win over Dirk van Duijvenbode.
In the final match, Josh Rock dumped out Michael van Gerwen 13-11 following a dramatic finale.
Van Gerwen looked to on course to edge through when he moved into a 9-6 lead before Rock hit back to take four consecutive legs to lead, then keeping the Dutchman at arm’s to reach the quarter-finals.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Rock said: “I don’t know what was going on but I got into the game at the end.
“One of the most dramatic, my heart was pumping through the whole game. The stress has finally gone. What a game that was.”