Raymond van Barneveld sets up blockbuster last 16 tie with Luke Littler at the World Darts Championship

Raymond van Barneveld has qualified for the last 16 at the World Darts Championship for the first time since 2018. After a difficult match, he won 4-1 in sets over Jim Williams.

However, things did not go easy for a moment. Van Barneveld had great difficulty finding the trebles. In fact, in the entire match he threw 31 trebleless visits. Williams had plenty of chances to take advantage of the 56-year-old Dutchman's misses, but blew a lot of chances on the doubles himself

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In the first leg, Williams made a showcase by throwing a 135 finish against the Van Barneveld throw, but the set still went 3-2 to 'Barney'. That was after Williams had missed darts in all the legs Van Barneveld won, including five for the set. Eventually the fifth leg went to Van Barneveld with a 23-darter.

Also in the second set Van Barneveld struggled to throw high scores. Williams took advantage this time and by throwing out 76, 96 and 60 the second set went 3-2 to the Welshman.

Van Barneveld then began to grow into the match. It was not yet convincing, but the trebles were falling a little more often. An 11-darter gave him the lead at the beginning of the third set. With a 14-darter and a 96 finish, "Barney" took the third set 3-0.

Van Barneveld then managed to break his Welsh opponent immediately with a 60 finish. Williams missed three chances for a break, after which Van Barneveld took a 2-0 lead in the fourth set via double 5. This set also went 3-0 to the Dutchman. Barney' then decided the match by taking the fifth set 3-2.

In the next round, the five-time world champion will take on English prodigy Luke Littler. The 16-year-old super talent already managed to win over Christian Kist, Andrew Gilding and Matt Campbell during the World Darts Championship.