Luke Littler played on the opening night of the 2026 PDC Darts World Championship as the reigning champion and the newly crowned world number one.
He faced Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas, who made it far from easy for Littler to get through to the second round of the tournament.
Did Luke Littler win his first-round match?
Littler went on to beat Labanauskas 3-0 in sets, but the game was much closer than the scoreline would suggest.
Set play can make it harder for players to pick up wins, and Labanauskas was on the wrong end of that.
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Two of the first three sets went to last-leg deciders, with Labanauskas missing on opportunities to execute and put Littler under pressure.
Littler didn't have his best night on the doubles in a couple of moments, yet still finished 9/14 on doubles (~64%).
He averaged 101.54 for the game, with Labanauskas averaging 95.25.
There were 10 180s between the two players in the match, with Littler hitting 7.
Each player had a ton-plus finish, with Littler nailing a 124 checkout and Labanauskas hitting a 130 on the bullseye to take the first leg of the match.
Littler will wait to see who he will play in the second round, as it will be the winner of the contest between Mario Vandenbogaerde and David Davies.
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