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After being defeated by James Wade in a heart-felt 10-7 second-round defeat, Luke Littler’s quest to become the world’s number one continues.

Meanwhile, Luke Humphries, who came from behind before winning the decisive leg, defeated Cameron Menzies 10-9.

The four quarter-finals will take place in the afternoon before the semi-final and final will take place on Sunday.

Littler, 18, could have easily and uncontestedly taken the PDC Order of Merit from Englishman Humphries at the event in Dortmund if he had won the title.

Wade went 2-0 up before Littler restored the lead to 3-2 in a tight final-16 contest.

Wade extended his lead to 6-6, but Littler responded once more, drawing the game level at 6-6.

After resuming their legs, Wade took the lead, using Littler’s failure to check out double 10 to make it 8-7, and then completing the feat on 73 before putting together a skillful finish on 108 to win.

Wade, who reached the top of the PDC rankings in 2010 and is an 11-time PDC major winner, told ITV that Littler “played very well” in contrast to his usual high standards.

Wade remarked, “I think I should have gotten away with it a little more before I did.”

“I believe everyone who plays darts knows how to play.”

While Littler and Wade both had averages of 97.75 and Littler did eight 180s to Wade’s three, throwing 11 more 100+ scores and receiving checkout rates of 45.45% and 33.33% demonstrated the difference.

Littler has struggled in recent years in Germany, where he has been forced to skip some matches in order to avoid getting a hostile response from the crowd.

When the pair lost to Germany at the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt in June, he and Humphries were booed alongside him.

Humphries faced Scotland’s Menzies with 5-7 and 5-8 behind, but he rallied for a decisive lead with three straight legs and held his throw.

Humphries’ checkout rate was lower, but he was able to beat Menzies thanks to a higher average and 100+ and 140+ throws.

With his victory, he will face compatriot Wade in the final eight.

Humphries claimed that he “really had to work hard” to beat Menzies.

He said, “I’m proud of the way I held myself when I was very frustrated.” “I was attempting to hold myself together.” I’m very proud of what I did and how I came back.

Gian van Veen 2-10 Ryan Searle

Ross Smith versus Daryl Gurney 10-6

Ryan Joyce: 7-10 Ryan Schindler

Michael van Gerwen 5-10 Chris Dobey

Jermaine Wattimena 10-6 Ricardo Pietreczko

Danny Noppert 7-10 Nathan Aspinall

James Wade James Littler 7-10

Gian van Veen vs. Ryan Joyce

Daryl Gurney vs. Michael van Gerwen

Luke Humphries vs. James Wade

Sale Sharks, who won only one game last season, made a strong start to their Premiership Women’s rugby campaign with a 46-17 victory over Leicester Tigers.

A dominant opening-period performance earlier on Saturday earned the Chiefs of Exeter a 24-12 victory over Trailfinders.

As Sale entered half-time leading 34-5, an expert performance before the break changed things.

The hosts also benefitted from a penalty try, which Lizzie Duffy successfully converted, and Amy Cokayne, Erica Jarrell, Holly Thorpe, Rhona Lloyd, Katie Childs, also scored in the opening half.

Tess Feury headed over for Leicester, but Sale quickly responded when Amy Relf converted and added another try in the 43rd minute before Trudy Cowan’s score of 46-5.

After 13 minutes, Liv McGoverne gave Exeter a strong opening lead with a loose ball before Hope Rogers seized a loose ball and headed over with a successful conversion.

Gabriella Nigrelli delivered her team’s third try with the help of Maisy Allen’s excellent quick attack, with McGoverne adding the extras to make it 19-0 at the break.

In the 49th minute, McGoverne’s team scored a looping pass to England’s Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, who had already led 24-0.

Kate Zackary gave the hosts hope when she saw a gap and dived over in the 54th minute, with Meg Jones scoring. Trailfinders appeared to be firmly out of the picture.

However, their encouraging second-half performance saw only five more points as Georgia Ponsonby flung the deficit wide in a packed area.

Rugby World Cup

Cardiff (12) 20

Cons: Lloyd Pen: Lloyd Pen: Mulder, Adams, and Sebastian

Edinburgh (19) 19

Cardiff’s impressive home form continued in the Rugby World Cup (URC) as Ioan Lloyd kicked them to a dramatic one-point victory over Edinburgh.

Lewis Wells, Charlie Shiel, and Ewan Ashman scored five tries for the visitors in the first half, while Johan Mulder and Josh Adams kept Cardiff in the contest.

After the break, Javan Sebastian scored against his former side to make Cardiff closer, and Lloyd scored the winning penalty from the halfway line.

On his first start in Cardiff, the fly half’s player of the match performance was capped by it.

Edinburgh remained in the Welsh capital, filled with internationals, including skipper Magnus Bradbury, who was recalled to Scotland’s squad this week, even though they were without Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham.

And it was the visitors at Arms Park that made it all the way to the end, crossing in the corner and some fans sat in their seats.

Cammy Scott was given a chance to kick in a perfectly weighted kick for Wells to go over with the initial damage from Wes Goosen’s break.

Taulupe Faletau’s dismissal in Cardiff was a further blow to Wales’ autumn internationals, with the number eight without a doubt causing concern.

However, they quickly regrouped when Taine Basham tore down the wing before finding Mulder in support after he was quickest to pounce on a loose ball.

Shiel took route one to the try line after a big carry from D’arcy Rae, and Edinburgh responded almost immediately after the restart.

After the break, Sebastian enjoyed scoring against his former team, the Scotland prop slashing his way past two defenders.

However, Lloyd’s careless maneuver kept Edinburgh within a slim lead of two points.

As the rain started to pour down on both teams, errors began to appear in the stands, and Adams was denied a second try shortly after the hour.

After Ben Thomas’ offload, he appeared certain to score, but Luke Crosby’s late intervention forced a knock-on.

Later, Adams stumbling off the field increased worries about Wales’ injuries.

Eight minutes from time, Thomas’ excellent work at the breakdown gave Cardiff another chance to take the lead.

For the first time in the match, Lloyd, who had missed two more straightforward attempts from the tee, confidently hit a 49-meter penalty.

We discussed a lot about going into the dark and just enjoying it, which is how I know the boys were very tired after all.

“Lineouts are definitely something we need to work on first,” said one person, “but ultimately you can’t coach the fighting spirit.”

Sean Everitt, head coach for Edinburgh, said: “I was let down by the second half.

We made numerous kicking errors, folded when the pressure was on, and perhaps weren’t being patient enough.

When you add up all three, it’s frustrating because, according to the statistics, we’ve had three away games, one home game, and three home games, and four of those three games have lost four points.

Hughes, Domachowski, Assiratti, Donnell, Lawrence, D Thomas, Davies, and Sheedy are the replacements.

Edinburgh: Goosen, McCann, O’Conor, Lang, Wells, Scott, Shiel, Schoeman, Ashman, Rae, Sykes, Gilchrist, McConnell, Richardson, and Bradbury (capt.).

Harrison, Venter, Hill, Hunter-Hill, Crosbie, McAlpine, Thompson, and Davidson are the replacements.

Andrew Brace (IRFU) as the referee

Referees’ assistants: Carwyn Sion and Craig Evans (WRU).