Littler cruises into Matchplay semis with win over Rock

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Luke Littler beat Niko Springer and Nathan Aspinall to set up the quarter-final against Josh Rock By Flora Snelson BBC Sport journalist Published 1 minute ago Luke Littler's World Matchplay title defence continued with a straightforward 16-7 quarter-final win over Josh Rock in Blackpool. Rock initially kept pace with the world number one as the players traded breaks to reach 5-5. But after 19-year-old Littler reeled off five legs in a row, there proved to be no way back for Rock as the defending champion, in dazzling form, cruised into the semi-finals. After throwing 17 180s with a scoring average of 109.57, Littler said: "At the minute, everything's going to plan." The teenager added: "I feel good. I can afford to miss a few doubles because the scoring's there. "Once again another brilliant performance, but fair play to Josh, he put up a good fight." Littler will play unseeded Dirk van Duijvenbode of the Netherlands in Saturday's semi-final. Earlier on Thursday evening, tournament outsider Van Duijvenbode survived a late surge by Gary Anderson to reach his first Matchplay semi-final. Anderson, the 2018 World Matchplay champion, threatened to close an eight-leg deficit with a fine late display including a 154 checkout, but Van Duijvenbode held on for a 16-13 win. Reflecting on his second-round tie-break win over Michael van Gerwen, Van Duijvenbode had said that shaking "like a little child crying for his mum" allowed his compatriot back into match after leading 8-4. After leading 8-4 again on Thursday, Van Duijvenbode dropped two consecutive legs but then stormed into a 14-6 lead by winning the next six without reply. However, it would be a further nine legs until Van Duijvenbode won the tie as a resurgent Anderson pushed him hard. World Matchplay Darts 2026 - Schedule, draw and prize money Published 1 hour ago Thursday's World Matchplay results Numbers in brackets indicate seedings Van Duijvenbode 16-13 Anderson (12) (1) Littler 16-7 Rock (8) Friday's World Matchplay schedule Quarter-finals - action from 20:05 BST (3) Gian van Veen vs James Wade (6) (7) Gerwyn Price vs Ross Smith (15) Related topics Darts