Luke Littler reigns supreme in Wigan! A show-stopping 110 average in the final defeats Dennie Olde Kalter

Luke Littler produced an extraordinary performance in the final to demolish Dennie Olde Kalter 8-2 and pick up the Players Championship 32 title, propelling him into a comfortable position to qualify for Minehead.

Littler defeated Dylan Slevin (6-4), Jeffrey de Graaf (6-4), Adam Lipscombe (6-0), Adam Hunt (6-4) and Rhys Griffin (6-3), before producing a sensational showing in the semi-finals against world number four Stephen Bunting, averaging over 109 in a 7-4 victory.

Olde Kalter began the day as the world number 140 and is currently enduring his first year on tour after winning his Tour Card at Q-School earlier this year. He had lost his first 20 floor events, and had a previous best run in Hildesheim, where he made the fourth round. He turned up the heat today, knocking out Marvin van Velzen (6-3), Niels Zonneveld (6-1), Dirk van Duijvenbode (6-5), Scott Waites (6-1), and yesterday’s finalists Nathan Aspinall (6-4), and Jermaine Wattimena (7-3) to reach his first PDC final.

The Dutchman started the quicker, breaking the Littler throw with a clinical 121 checkout on double 11. The Nuke soon put things right with a 12 darter on double 10 before taking out a familiar checkout in the form of 152 to assert his dominance.

Littler followed that with a 101 checkout for a third straight leg and clinched his fourth on the bounce with a 14 darter. At this point, Olde Kalter was averaging over 111, and still losing to the World Champion. The Dutchman punished missed doubles from Littler to put his second leg on the board, but the gap instantly went back to three as Littler found another 101 out shot.

The recent World Grand Prix champion took out 83 in two for another 11 darter before replicating that to go one away from his fourth Pro Tour title. He wrapped up proceedings with an uncharacteristic 15 darter to claim the title. This result is very beneficial for his ambitions of qualifying for Minehead, with the £15k he collected pushing him up to 34th in the order of merit, despite starting the day outside the top 64.