Luke Littler won on his European Tour debut in dramatic fashion as he beat Jose de Sousa in a last-leg decider in the first round of the Belgian Darts Open. Littler averaged over 101, but missed 17 darts at double to allow de Sousa back in the tie.
Using his original set of darts that got him to the World Championship final, Littler broke throw in the first leg with a 14-darter, but then missed six darts to take a two-leg lead and de Sousa swooped in to take out 64. A lot of the pre-match talk was understandably about the teenager, but Portugal's number one wasn't going to act as bystander as he checked out 103 to go 2-1 ahead.
The match continued on throw, and de Sousa kept on making show-stopping shots when he finished a classy 121 with Littler waiting on 54. Despite 'The Special One' playing his part in this high-quality tie, it sort of felt inevitable that Littler would pounce when the chance came.
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The 17-year-old had a 121 of his own to hold throw, but de Sousa's scoring matched his imperious doubling as he went within one leg of victory with an 11-darter. However, he missed two match darts in the penultimate leg and Littler forced a decider.
In the final leg of the match, Littler fired in two maximums and had a dart at bull before eventually mopping up on his favoured double 10 to enjoy an eventful welcome to the European Tour. He will face another national number one in Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski in the second round on Saturday evening.
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