Reigning world champion Luke Littler began his defense of the Bahrain Darts Masters with a 6-3 win over Lawrence Ilagan to book a place in the quarter-finals.
Littler is looking to retain what was his first title on the PDC circuit, just weeks after being crowned the youngest world champion at Alexandra Palace aged just 17.
It's also the tournament where he shot nine against Nathan Aspinall in the 2024 quarter-finals, his first of four for the year.
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Emma Paton, Mark Webster and Richard Ashdown discuss whether Littler can break Phil Taylor's World Darts record of 16 titles
'Nuke' was in control during his first meeting on the Bahrain International Circuit and managed to survive a mid-match fightback from Ilagan, a silky 142 checkout plus two stoppages to help him regain the momentum.
“It was good and I'm happy to get through that first game,” Littler said. “I played well in patches and did the right things at the right time.
“It would mean the world to come back and keep this title. I know it's going to be a long night tomorrow, but I'll be ready for it.”
Littler will now face Gerwyn Price who put up a solid showing with a 6-3 win over Ally Pally crowd favorite Lok Yin Lee.
Paolo Nebrida pulled off a shock victory over Rob Cross in Bahrain
The other big story of the night Paolo Nebrida put his name in the record books as he became only the second Asian Tour player to beat a PDC player in the World Series with a 6-3 win over Rob Cross.
Cross looked clumsy and had a terrible time in the doubles, a layoff and loss in the 29-dart leg putting him back at 3-1.
From there, Nebrida did the heavy lifting, and a clutch 116 checkout was followed by a 62 on top for the winning break of the throw that awarded the Filipino player his own piece of darts history.
“I'm proud to have won and I know there's more to come,” Nebrida said. “I felt good but Rob is a tough player. 116 was important and when my first dart goes in I have a chance.”
World No. 1 Luke Humphries he put in a great performance as he cruised to a 6-0 win over Abdullah Saeed.
Humphries came out ready to entertain the crowd and his checkouts of 151, 100 and 141 did just that, 'Cool Hand' hitting 180s with ease along the way.
Fourth seed Stephen Bunting booked a quarter-final showdown against Chris Dobey with a 6-2 dominance by Nitin Kumar.
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Watch Stephen Bunting's son cheer his father on to quarter-final victory over Peter Wright
Bunting came out firing, 142 and 122 checkouts plus three big breaks to help him take control and send a statement that his form isn't going anywhere after his run to the World Darts Championship semi-finals.
Dobey also made his mark with a 6-0 win over Basem Mahmood, while Peter Wright put in the early work to seal a 6-3 win over Alexis Toyl and go through to the first round – where he will face Nebrida – for the third year in a row.
He watched the final match of the evening Nathan Aspinall produced a professional performance and closed out a 6-2 victory against Xiaochen Zong.
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