Luke Littler survives huge scare at Poland Darts Masters as The Nuke gets sweet revenge
Luke Littler almost threw away a huge lead over Adam Gawlas in Poland.
Luke Littler survived a major scare to beat Adam Gawlas at the Poland Darts Masters and set up a quarter-final showdown with Peter Wright. Gawlas inflicted the first defeat of Littler's senior career at last year's UK Open but was unable to repeat his past heroics this time around.
The Nuke raced into an early lead, claiming the first three legs before Gawlas finally got himself on the board. Littler continued to twist the knife and was 5-1 up at one point, needing to win just one more leg to wrap up the match.
Gawlas, however, was undeterred and battled back by claiming the next three legs to put himself within reach of a seismic upset. Littler was a long way off his best and missed five match darts in total, including two attempts on the bull at 5-1 and 5-3.
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The teenage superstar eventually managed to finish the job, finding double two in the 10th leg to secure a 6-4 triumph. The result saw Littler claim sweet revenge over Gawlas following the Czech qualifier's triumph at the UK Open last year.
ITV pundit Mark Webster never felt that Littler was at risk of losing the match despite throwing away three straight legs, saying: "Gawlas played well, so credit to him for that. I never thought Luke Littler was in danger, even though there was a little comeback.
"He just restored order in that last leg, messed around a bit on the double, but it was a confident start. When you can make a 97 average look like you're nowhere near your best, we know what levels Littler has got and I'm sure he will be better tomorrow."
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Littler said he was not planning on taking Gawlas lightly before the match, given that he has already been on the receiving end of a defeat to the 22-year-old.
"I’m looking forward to it," he said. I love playing in front of big crowds, so hopefully I can put on a show for them and get the win. It was going to be tough no matter who I played. I think it’s a really strong field of players and I know what Adam is capable of."
Littler's training partner Nathan Aspinall was involved in the biggest shock of the evening as he fell to a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Boris Krcmar. The latter defied five 180s from Aspinall to qualify for the last eight, posting an average of almost 98 on his way to victory.
