Luke Littler booked his place in a third consecutive World Darts Championship final after beating Ryan Searle 6-1, but cameras caught a rare moment of frustration
Luke Littler is on the brink of securing consecutive World Darts Championship titles after defeating Ryan Searle 6-1 in Friday’s semi-final. The reigning champion is now just one match away from becoming the first player to retain the Sid Waddell trophy since Gary Anderson’s back-to-back victories in 2015 and 2016.
However, Littler’s initial set was far from smooth as he fell behind for the first time in the tournament when Searle clinched the opener – a setback that clearly irked him. Sky Sports cameras captured the young darts player appearing to mouth a few heated words as he exited the stage, including what looked like: ‘F****** s.’
After losing the first set 3-2, Littler seemed to utter an expletive in frustration. Despite posting a higher average score in the opening set – 105.00 compared to Searle’s 94.50 – it wasn’t the start Littler had hoped for.
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However, post-interval, the game quickly became one-sided.
‘The Nuke’ wasted no time in turning the tables, winning the second set 3-1 with a three-figure average, while Searle could only muster 90.62.
Despite early struggles with his doubles, Littler redeemed himself in the second set by successfully hitting three out of four checkout attempts.
The fourth set saw Littler assert his dominance, taking control of the match and dealing Searle a rare blow, as ‘Heavy Metal’ had not previously trailed in this year’s World Championship.
The advantage quickly ballooned to 3-1, powered by a scorching 110.0 average.
The onslaught continued relentlessly – at 5-1, the 18-year-old sent the Alexandra Palace crowd into raptures by hitting a spectacular 170 checkout, famously dubbed the big fish.
“It feels good to reach the final, I’ve joined another short list of names of players who have had back-to-back-to-back finals,” Littler said.
“Now, the only goal is to join the list of people who are back-to-back World Champions.
“I’ve got every right to think I can do it, but I never, ever say that I am going to win it. We will just see how the darts go.
“I know Gian very well from the Development Tour, we have met a few times on the ProTour and I got the win over him in Minehead in my first World Youth Championship [final in 2023].
“He is in absolute freedom, he’s now in the top four of the world – I don’t think he has much to lose.”
This year’s winner will pocket a record-breaking £1million prize.
