Littler needs a stunning 95 checkout to survive a first round scare against Noppert in Amsterdam

[Indexer Tundra]

World number one Luke Littler came within a leg of a shock first round exit at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam before pulling off a dramatic recovery to beat Danny Noppert 5-4. The Dutchman, playing in front of a partisan home crowd, raced into an early 3-1 lead and looked well on his way to delivering exactly the kind of upset that makes the World Series format so unpredictable for even the biggest names in the sport.

Littler dug in to level the match at 3-3, but Noppert refused to fold quietly and pushed back ahead to 4-4, setting up a decider that had the Amsterdam crowd fully behind their own player and audibly on top of Littler throughout. At one particularly tense moment while trailing, Littler responded to the crowd's booing by tapping his ears toward them, the kind of gesture that only tends to escalate an already hostile atmosphere rather than calm it, but it also seemed to feed directly into the response that followed.

With the match hanging in the balance at 4-4, Littler produced the standout moment of the entire contest, a stunning 95 checkout that left Noppert needing 46 and unable to respond in time. Littler closed out the leg and the match immediately after, and let out a genuinely passionate roar toward the same crowd that had spent much of the evening firmly against him, turning what had been a hostile atmosphere into a moment of pure release once the pressure finally broke his way.

The scare fits into a recognisable pattern for Littler this season, where his sheer dominance in the world rankings has not always translated into comfortable straightforward wins, particularly on away legs and in tournament formats that put him directly in front of a home crowd rooting hard against him. Noppert's performance, even in defeat, will likely be viewed as a genuinely credible showing against the world's best player rather than simply a nearly man's story that fades from memory by the next round.

Littler now moves on to face fellow Englishman Nathan Aspinall in the next round, who came through his own tougher than expected contest, beating Raymond Smith 6-4. An all English clash between two players with genuinely contrasting styles should be one of the more closely watched ties of the round, particularly given how narrowly Littler avoided an early exit just to get there.

World Series of Darts Finals 2026: Luke Littler survives scare to progresswww.bbc.co.uk