Luke Littler into quarter-finals after Nick Kenny knocks out defending champion Pietreczko from German Darts Championship

Luke Littler has joined the last eight at the German Darts Championship in Hildesheim. 'The Nuke' won 6-2 over Ryan Searle on Sunday afternoon in a somewhat disappointing match.

Both men missed many darts on the doubles. Searle had a finishing percentage of 11.8 percent (2/17) versus 30 percent (6/20) for Littler. In the first leg, Searle already missed three darts to keep his own leg, which then resulted in a break for Littler, who in turn missed five doubles in the second leg. Searle then broke back with a 21-darter.

In the third leg, there were again three misses on Searle's side. Littler took advantage, and again saw Searle miss three chances in leg four. Via double 5, Littler then brought the score to 3-1. Searle then closed to 2-3 before Littler responded with a 13-darter. Another 13-darter from the 17-year-old teenage sensation followed in the seventh leg before Littler finished the job with a 14-darter.

Littler will face Damon Heta in the quarterfinals of the Euro Tour tournament in Hildesheim. The Australian cleared former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding in the third round. Heta seemed headed for an easy win. An 86 finish and a 13-darter, among other things, gave 'The Heat' a 4-0 lead. Gilding then fought his way back to 4-4. The Englishman then failed to keep his own leg by missing three doubles to give Heta a 16-darter to take a breakaway lead. Heta then decided the match with a 71 finish.

Ricardo Pietreczko saw his attempt at successful title defence stopped. After a nerve-wracking final leg, the victory surprisingly went 6-5 to Nick Kenny. Both players had chances to win the match in the final leg. First it was Kenny who missed five matchdarts, after which Pietreczko failed to capitalize on his two matchdarts. The seventh matchdart then proved to be a winner for Kenny.