Littler hits nine-darter as he wins Cardiff final

Luke Littler is the defending Premier League champion after winning the event at the first attempt last year

Teenager Luke Littler hit a nine-darter and averaged a stunning 112.5 to beat Michael van Gerwen and win night seven of Premier League Darts in Cardiff.

The 18-year-old was unsure if the final dart on double 15 was in and hesitated before celebrating in vociferous style when the referee called it.

It is his third televised nine-darter - and second in the Premier League - and helped him seal a 6-4 victory over seven-time winner Van Gerwen.

It was a chaotic final with Littler and Van Gerwen exchanging seven breaks of throw.

Van Gerwen, who was featuring in his first final of the year after losing five semi-finals in the first six weeks, played his part, averaging 101.41 and taking out 50% of his doubles.

Littlers checkouts were at 42.9% but his scoring power saw him secure a third night win of the season.

His nine-darter was the third in the Premier League this year after Luke Humphries and Rob Cross both hit one in defeat in Brighton on night five.

Littlers victory means he is six points clear of Humphries at the top of the table and his place in Mays play-offs at the O2 Arena already looks practically guaranteed.

World number one Humphries suffered a second successive quarter-final defeat losing 6-4 to Van Gerwen.

Humphries led 4-1 but Van Gerwen supberly fought back and showed signs of his best in averaging 104 to reel off five successive legs for the win.

Cross moved to within a win of the play-off spots with a 6-5 victory over Gerwyn Price, who was playing in his home event.

The pair exchanged breaks but Cross progressed with a 170 checkout in a final-leg decider, before losing 6-2 to Littler in the semi-finals.

Stephen Bunting, who is playing in the tournament for the first time in 10 years, is still without a win after a 6-2 defeat by Chris Dobey.

Bunting posted on X to say he was "absolutely gutted" and that he was making him himself "so nervous because I care and want to perform to my best".

The two points gained by Dobey were his first since reaching the final in week one.

Week eight in Newcastle on 27 March sees the league reach the halfway point and the fixtures are decided by the current table, with leader Littler facing eighth-placed Bunting and second plays seventh, third against sixth and fourth v fifth.

Final

Michael van Gerwen 4-6 Luke Littler

Semi-finals

Chris Dobey 1-6 Michael van Gerwen

Luke Littler 6-2 Rob Cross

Quarter-finals

Chris Dobey 6-2 Stephen Bunting

Luke Humphries 4-6 Michael van Gerwen

Luke Littler 6-3 Nathan Aspinall

Gerwyn Price 5-6 Rob Cross

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks 1-7 and 9-15, with the weeks 8 and 16 fixtures done off the table. It means we will get fourth v fifth in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at Londons O2 Arena on 23 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

If players are level on points after the 16 weeks then places are decided by nights won and then matches won.

Newcastle, 27 March, 19:00 GMT

Luke Littler v Stephen Bunting

Gerwyn Price v Rob Cross

Luke Humphries v Chris Dobey

Michael van Gerwen v Nathan Aspinall