Luke Littler survives Grand Slam of Darts classic with epic comeback to see off De Decker in decider

Luke Littler has become the penultimate name to secure himself a spot in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts after emerging victorious in a high-quality thriller with a 10-9 victory over Mike de Decker.

After first-round exits at the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and the European Darts Championship, 'The Nuke' convincingly raced through the groups. The 17-year-old teenage sensation had a formidable start by beating Keane Barry 5-0 thanks to an average of 112. This was followed by a 5-1 victory over Dimitri van den Bergh with a average of 106.98. In an attractive duel, he was then also too strong for Lourence Ilagan (5-3) with 102.05 average. De Decker meanwhile, lost his first group match against Jermaine Wattimena (5-2), but then won decisively against Mensur Suljovic (5-2) and Michael Smith (5-0).

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Two of the stars of the 2024 season, the quality was immense in the early stages of this one. After Littler took a 2-0 lead via a 14 darter and a 15 darter, roared back to level terms in style with a 12 darter and a 13 darter. Littler took the final leg of the opening session though to nudge infront 3-2 at the break.

After De Decker powered level and then into the lead with back to back 11 darters to open the second session, missed darts at double started to have an effect in leg 8. Both missed chances to take it, but eventually Littler took it to tie the scores at 4-4. De Decker was the one playing the better darts at that moment though and as the Belgian won the last two legs of the session he moved 6-4 clear.

Opening the third session, the World Grand Prix champion made it four legs on the spin to stretch his lead to 8-4. As De Decker neared the finish line though, Littler started to wake up and the coming got underway. Punished a number of missed darts at double, the Nuke got back to 7-8 with the crowd really getting on the Belgian's back. De Decker did find a double to get to 9-7 but the Littler momentum train was rolling and the 17-year-old managed to force a decider. In that decider, Littler had the advantage of throw and he held firm, throwing out a 12 darter for the match.

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