"I still can't figure out what happened" - A perplexed Wayne Mardle in utter disbelief after dramatic clash between Littler and Price

Luke Littler reached the semi-final of the World Grand Prix for the first time after defeating Gerwyn Price 3-2 in a thriller. After the match, Wayne Mardle reacted with bemusement to what he described as a 'weird game.'

The Iceman sprant into a 2-0 lead, punishing the world champion who was finding struggles with the outer ring. However, the game turned and Littler brought himself back into it. Price found himself 2-1 in the fourth set left on 60 for the match, but The Nuke smashed in a 154 checkout to keep his fleeting hopes alive. The Welshman would go on to squander three match darts as Littler drew level. It would culminate in a dramatic last leg, where Littler took out a magnificent 152 to win the match with his opponent stranded on 96 after an incredibly messy leg.

Darts fans all over the world were left speechless by what they watched, with five-time World Championship semi-finalist Mardle one of them. "I don't know, I still can't figure out what happened," Mardle said when speaking on Sky Sports. "They're quite reliable dart players, but they were both so unreliable."

In a match which many thought to have promised world class darts and quality was replaced by a scrappy match with neither player coming out satisfied by their performance. While Littler scraped a stunning victory, he was very fortunate to come away on the winning side.

"It just didn't happen, and there had to be a winner because that's what happens, and it happened to go to the last leg," Mardle said. "We knew it would be close but it got so close like that, it was weird. There was that 154, then there was that 152, but inbetween there was so many bad darts, really bad darts. Even going for tops, there was a five. Then Gezzy hit a double one going for tops for the match, comes back, can't wrap it up. It was so messy, not what we expected at all.

"We expected the closeness, we expected a bit of drama but it's just weird. That was just a weird game. I don't foresee that kind of performance again from Luke Littler. In between all of that was a great set, with a 107 average in the third set. Then your thinking 'right. he's back in it.' But then he played himself out of it again."

While Littler would be overjoyed and relieved, it will be a different story for Price who had three separate opportunities to wrap up the match, but failed to take them. Mardle described that Price would be thinking after another golden opportunity to beat Littler flies past him.

"Gezzy will be thinking 'what an earth'. Some defeats are like, 'You know what, its alright.' You never want to get beat but sometimes you equip yourself well and you play really well," he said. "Even Gezzy who is an absolute bona fide champion sometimes loses thinking 'I couldn't done much there,' but losing that, and full credit him, because I think Gezzy of last year would have, not literally walked off. He was a gentleman in defeat there which was very nice. It was one of those which he will come off drained."

The start may have given Mardle false optimism. "At the start it was Luke came out and hit a couple of 180s in the first leg and you're like 'This is what it's going to be like,' then nothing, 15 minutes of nothing. How it got to that point of the last leg and him having to take out the 152 is just one of those things. This is what sport does, this is what darts does. That was so dramatic in a weird way."

Littler has won almost everything in the sport, but the World Grand Prix is still out of his grasp. He faces off against the 2021 champion Jonny Clayton to book his place in the final of yet another major tournament.