Saudi Arabia Darts Masters Roundup | Littler, Van Gerwen, Humphries and Price dominate opening night in Riyadh
PDCTuesday, 20 January 2026 at 10:59
Almost all of the biggest names delivered on the opening night of the 2026 Saudi Arabia Darts Masters as the World Series arrived in Riyadh for the first time. Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price all powered through their opening round ties, but the evening also produced the first major shock of the 2026 World Series of Darts.
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Littler makes it two from two against Lim
Luke Littler continued his strong start to the World Series with another commanding win over Paul Lim, repeating their Bahrain result with a second 6-1 victory in as many weeks.
Littler opened with a 14-dart leg on tops and quickly moved 2-0 ahead with another 14-darter, again finished on tops. He stretched the lead to 3-0 after trying for three bullseyes on 150 before returning to clean up on tops.
A fourth straight leg followed on double six, before Lim finally avoided the whitewash by checking out 96 on double nine. Littler almost produced another showpiece finish in the next leg, aiming for bulls again on 125, but eventually pinned double five for a 5-1 lead.
Lim missed two darts at double 16 to stay alive, and Littler punished immediately with a 52 checkout on tops to complete another ruthless 6-1 win over the Singapore Slinger.
Van Gerwen shakes off slow start against Kumar
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Fresh from lifting the World Series opener in Bahrain, Michael van Gerwen began his Riyadh campaign with a 6-1 win over late replacement Nitin Kumar.
Kumar had four darts at tops in a scrappy opening leg but failed to take his chance, allowing Van Gerwen to punish on double 10. Van Gerwen then missed the bull for 2-0 and Kumar levelled on double 14.
The turning point came in leg three when Van Gerwen broke with a 102 checkout, going single 20, bull, double 16. Kumar missed two darts at double in the next leg and Van Gerwen cleaned up on tops to move 3-1 ahead.
From there the three-time world champion took control, winning three legs on the spin and closing out the match with a two-dart 92 finish to seal a comfortable 6-1 victory.
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Humphries pushed before pulling clear
Luke Humphries was the only one of the headline names to face real resistance.
Ryusei Azemoto, throwing first, opened with a 180 and took the first leg on double top. Humphries responded with a solid hold to level, but Azemoto then punished missed doubles from Humphries with a two-dart 100 checkout to move 2-1 ahead.
Humphries struck back on double top after Azemoto missed two darts to regain the lead. He then broke again after Azemoto missed a dart at bull for parity, opening up a 4-2 advantage.
In leg three Humphries went as close as anyone has so far to the $200k golden dart bonus, starting with five perfect darts before going astray. He still completed the break of throw moments later.
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Humphries sealed the 6-2 win with a 96 checkout, booking his place in the last eight.
Price produces the performance of the night
Gerwyn Price delivered the most dominant display of the session, whitewashing Alexis Toylo 6-0.
Price broke in 15 darts on 74 in the opening leg and held for 2-0 with a 56 checkout in two darts. He then produced the moment of the night by reeling in a 170 finish to move 3-0 up, roaring in celebration and bringing the Riyadh crowd to life.
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Despite missing a few doubles in leg four, his scoring kept him well clear and he eventually moved 4-0 ahead. He pinned double 12 for 5-0 and completed the whitewash on double 12 again to cruise into the quarter-finals without breaking sweat.
First major shock as Leung dumps out Noppert
The opening match of the tournament produced the first big upset of the 2026 World Series of Darts.
Man Lok Leung broke Danny Noppert in the opening leg and surged into a 3-0 lead, averaging over 111 early in the contest. Noppert finally got on the board after Leung missed five darts at double, but the Hong Kong number one remained in control.
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Leung restored his two-leg lead after Noppert missed a dart at bull for parity, and moved to within one of victory after a perfectly timed 171 set-up left double 16, which he pinned on his return.
Noppert broke to stay alive at 3-5, but Leung closed out a famous 6-3 win to reach the quarter-finals and hand the World Series its first real shock.
Aspinall, Bunting and Van Veen cruise through
Stephen Bunting made light work of Tomoya Goto, running out a 6-1 winner.
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An opening leg 180 settled any nerves and he quickly moved 2-0 up after punishing on double 14. Goto missed bull for 121 in leg five and Bunting cleaned up 68 to go 5-0 ahead. Goto grabbed a late consolation before Bunting sealed the match on double eight.
Nathan Aspinall followed with one of the most clinical displays of the night against Lourence Ilagan. Two 15-darters gave him an early 2-0 lead and he quickly moved to 3-0, with Ilagan still yet to have a dart at double.
Aspinall broke again on double 16 to make it 4-0 and moved one away on double six. Ilagan finally took his first finishing chance with a two-dart 98 checkout, but Aspinall responded in style, closing out the 6-1 win with an 11-darter to book a quarter-final clash with Man Lok Leung.
Gian van Veen completed the opening round with a composed 6-2 win over Motomu Sakai.
The World Youth Champion made a steady start, holding throw in the opening leg before breaking on double 19 for a 2-0 lead. He stretched his advantage to 3-0 with a last-dart double 18, even after Sakai had applied pressure with a smart set-up.
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Sakai finally got on the board in leg four on double 18 and then threatened a fightback by breaking Van Veen with a 68 checkout on double 16 to make it 3-2. Van Veen immediately shut that down, breaking back with a 47 finish in two darts to restore control.
A last-dart double 14 put him one away at 5-2, and he sealed the match on double 18 for a 6-2 win, setting up a quarter-final meeting with Luke Littler in a rematch of their recent 2026 PDC World Darts Championship final.
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
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