UK Open Final Round-up | Luke Littler defeats James Wade for the second year running to defend his UK Open title

160 came to Minehead, one has conquered them all. For the second year on the bounce Luke Littler has won the UK Open with a 11-7 victory over James Wade. While both players were not at their best, it was the 2025 champion who proved to have the goods to reel in another major title.

The 19-year-old adds his name to a prestigious group including Raymond van Barneveld, Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen as the only players to defend the UK Open. It is a 10th ranking major for Littler who continues his dominant streak at the top of darts. Going into it, Littler was hunting for a 13th major title in an 18th final. Wade’s last major title came in the 2021 UK Open and was hoping to end his drought with a third final in two years against Littler.

Both players came off contrasting semi-final performances which both resulted in tight wins over very talented opponents. Littler was the quicker out of the blocks, sprinting away from a sluggish Wade to hold. He backed this up with an ominous break with ‘The Machine’ struggling to get in his flow. Littler made it 3-0 before Wade finally got on the board with a hold of throw. After the world number one squandered four darts at a double, Wade rode his luck as he broke back to get the final back on throw.

Wade came back to level the match at 3-3, surpassing his leg tally from last year’s final when he was on the end of an 11-2 trouncing from Littler, waiting until the tenth leg before he got on the board. Littler was not wanting such a dangerous opponent to get back into the match, completing another three-leg burst to sail 6-3 ahead. He had found his range on tops in this period which helped him thoroughly. Wade, however, was not bowing down. A 13-darter before the second break saw him prevent Littler from charging further ahead and kept him in contention.

More sloppiness from Littler on double 10 had been an uncomfortable trend as Wade was there to capitalise, doing what he does best to close the score to 6-5 despite averaging 87. He would then checkout 83 in two marvellous darts to draw level again. Littler got back in front before missing double 20 for a 106 checkout after Wade missed a brace of darts at that target. The world number six did not make the same mistake twice and the score was level at 7-7.

Wade had a dart to move ahead for the first time in the match, but the bull was not found and Littler pounced. A 116 finish was followed by a roar from the reigning champion who took a huge leap towards success. Wade then started to miss at tops. Two were spurned after Littler missed the bull for a 164, coming back to clean it up on double 10 before punishing Wade again to move one leg from regaining his title. With his fourth match dart, Littler pinned double six to take home another UK Open title.

Littler booked his spot in another final with a 16th consecutive major semi-final triumph, defeating Josh Rock 11-9 after completing a respectable comeback.

Littler began the match with a break of throw on his favourite double 10 before looking certain to doubling his lead. He missed seven darts at a double before Rock got to a finish, in which he took out 62 in two to level up. He took the lead before another three missed doubles from the reigning champion saw Rock move 3-1 ahead with a perfect checkout rate.

This continued with five legs in a row being headlined with a 128 checkout on double four. Littler was nowhere near the standards he expects of himself as Rock too advantage. He finally missed his first dart on the outer ring at tops for a 102 checkout with Littler pinning double five. 16 doubles were missed in a row, but he shortly made it two in a row to move within two legs of ‘Rocky.’ A second consecutive 13-darter put the match back on throw before the second interval saw Littler tie the match up.

The holds would continue with some slick stuff from both players. Littler takes out 76 in two before Rock musters up a 72 outshot on double 12 to sneak ahead. He took out 100 to re-take the lead again at the close of the third session. Rock came out the more fired up, seeing Littler miss the bull for a 170 before another two at double 10 which was motivation to pin that target himself to break. The two-time world champion breaks straight back before nudging the score to 9-9. He was rampant at this point, closing out the match in rapid fashion as Rock failed to spring himself back into life.

Just before this, James Wade booked his spot in the final with a scintillating 11-8 win over Gerwyn Price while averaging over 105. Wade was the first to doubles in the early stages, but he was unable to convert with the clinical traits he has been tagged by many. Two missed at double 10 allowed Price to come back at tops before he repeated the events to break. This was the start of four consecutive breaks. Wade instantly got back into it before going seven darts into the perfect leg. He left 53 after nine but five missed darts allowed Price to steal a march. This advantage was again carelessly thrown away with a calamity of a miscount from Price who was rightfully punished by the Englishman to close the gap to 3-2.

The breaks could have continued if Price was not sloppy on a normally favourable double 12. Wade got back on level terms before Price regained his lead a leg later. He then broke the Wade throw once more, capitalising on more wastefulness from ‘The Machine’ to go 5-3 in front. It would not last as Wade reeled Price back in, taking out 136 to finish the second session with both players boasting five legs on the board.

Both players respectively missed the double for a 141 and 127 with Wade cleaning up to move ahead for the first time. He opted against taking out the 161 before a leg later taking out the 167 to move three legs clear. In this five-leg burst, Wade’s worst leg was a 16-darter in an incredible purple patch.

Price was struggling to keep up but had the chance to take out the 170 to halt the rot. He missed the bull with Wade getting away with missing double 13 for a 146. He cleaned it up before the two-time finalist finally found his range on the bull for a 121 checkout, going into the final break ending a five-game spurt from Wade while firing himself up. Wade edged out further in front and moved within one of the match. Price mounted a feeble comeback which saw Wade miss three match darts on different targets. He eventually got it done on double 10 to reach another final in Minehead.