Luke Littler was sent crashing out of the World Darts Masters on Sunday afternoon as he suffered a stunning 4-2 defeat to Jonny Clayton in the quarter-finals.
The 18-year-old world champion was an overwhelming favourite against the world No 7 and averaged an impressive 108.5 in the match, but was denied by some class finishing as Clayton hit nine of 15 darts at a double.
The loss means Littler can now turn his focus to the defence of his Premier League Darts title, which begins on Thursday evening in Belfast, live on Sky Sports.
Clayton stunned Littler with a superb 138 finish to take the first set, but the 18-year-old won the next two legs to immediately level the match.
The Ferret silenced the Milton Keynes crowd by winning the third set against the throw and then hitting D2 to claim a 3-1 lead after Littler had missed a set dart at bullseye.
Littler held his nerve to win the fifth set with an 81 checkout and then looked to have wrestled back control when he broke Clayton with an 11-darter to take the first leg of the sixth set.
But Clayton opened the next leg with five perfect darts before pinning D16 to break back immediately and he sealed a famous victory on tops in what proved to be the final leg of the match.
Luke Littler embraces Jonny Clayton after their quarter-final in Milton Keynes (pic: PDC)
“This stage likes me,” said 2021 champion Clayton to ITV afterwards.
“Luke didn’t play his A-game obviously, but it’s a battle and I got over the line. I can smile a big smile.
“He’s a cracking guy, a great darts player and he has big future ahead of him. He’s given me a big lesson the last two games I played against him.
“All jokes aside, it went my way. It was my day.”
Clayton will face Dimitri Van den Bergh in the semi-finals after the Belgian comfortably beat an out-of-sorts Nathan Aspinall 4-1.
The Asp showed some resistance by winning the second set, but couldn’t match Van den Bergh for much of the match and eventually lost a remarkable final leg.
Aspinall opened with seven perfect darts before missing T19 in his pursuit of a nine-darter, but ultimately lost the leg – and crucially the match – when he missed three darts at doubles.
Van den Bergh punished him by hitting tops and then D10 to seal victory with an 11-dart leg.
Bunting’s title defence ends after last-leg drama
Stephen Bunting holds his head after losing to Danny Noppert (pic: PDC)
Earlier, Stephen Bunting’s defence of his Masters title ended in dramatic fashion as he missed two match darts in a last-leg shootout to lose 4-3 to Danny Noppert.
The Dutchman had missed a match dart of his own to give Bunting a chance to check out 41, but misses at D16 and D8 allowed Noppert to return and hit D8 for a thrilling victory.
After Bunting claimed a close opening set, Noppert reeled off six legs in a row to move 3-1 ahead – but the Englishman battled back to 3-3 and then 1-1 in the decisive seventh set.
Ultimately, Bunting was made to pay for missing 19 of 26 darts at a double – including 11 in a row at one stage – and he lost out on the chance to play his friend Luke Humphries in the last four.
Humphries had looked impressive in the opening match of the afternoon, averaging 104 in a 4-1 victory over Damon Heta.
The top seed missed two darts for the second set, but that was the only significant blemish as he won every other set to reach Sunday evening’s final session.
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