Littler suffers third-round exit in Belgian Open

World champion Luke Littler was knocked out of the Belgian Darts Open in the third round with a 6-5 defeat by Niels Zonneveld.

Littler was on a streak of 12 matches unbeaten in the tournament and was bidding for a hat-trick of victories in Wieze, having won the event in 2024 and 2025.

But the 19-year-old Englishman suffered his first defeat in a ranking event since last October at the hands of world number 39 Zonneveld of the Netherlands.

Zonneveld had trailed 3-1 to Littler, after the opening exchanges went against the throw, before he battled back to take a 4-3 lead.

The 27-year-old Dutchman missed three match darts in the 10th leg which allowed Littler to level the score with a 136 checkout.

However, Zonneveld then produced a superb 147 finish in the final-leg decider to secure a memorable victory over the Warrington teenager.