"I'll just have to fear the worst" - Luke Littler reserved ahead facing Raymond van Barneveld and Barney Army on Dutch soil

Luke Littler has come through a real thriller in the opening round of the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals. The Englishman defeated his compatriot Ross Smith 6-5 and will now take on Raymond van Barneveld, in what will be a replay of their match at the past World Darts Championship.

Littler played a strong match in which he averaged over 103, yet he had to survive two missed match darts from Smith to progress. "I'm glad to get over the line," admitted Littler afterwards. "Ross let me in and I took my chance."

The 17-year-old Englishman started this tournament as the top seed, having won the World Series of Darts Order of Merit thanks to winning the Bahrain Darts Masters and the Poland Darts Masters earlier this year. "It's been unbelievable! Visiting countries I'd never have thought I'd be playing darts in. I've got the opportunity to go all over and done well in most of them," Littler says of his campaign.

'The Nuke' will take on home favorite Raymond van Barneveld in the last sixteen. With the roles reversed from the Ally Pally and this time Van Barneveld having the home crowd advantage in Amsterdam, Littler isn't expecting to have it all his own way. "Me and Raymond will both be confident and I'll go into the game wanting to win, just like tonight," he previews. "I'll just play my darts - in the worst case I'll have to switch on the gears again like I did tonight, but I'll have to try to get off to a good start tomorrow."

"The World Championship as a whole, was a crazy experience for myself," he concludes. "I beat one of my idols, who is Raymond. But tomorrow night, it'll be different. He'll have the crowd on his side and like I said, I'll just have to fear the worst."