Littler through, Humphries unhappy at NZ Masters

Luke Littler is chasing a third consecutive title but was made to work for his place in the New Zealand Masters quarter-finals.

The world champion, who has just won the World Matchplay and Australian Masters in succession, was far from his best in beating Kiwi Mark Cleaver 6-4.

Luke Humphries also progressed as he looks to defend his title in Auckland, but described his form as “depressing” after a 6-3 win over Haupai Puha.

England’s Littler, 18, won the first three legs of his match but was pegged back at 4-4 by Cleaver after some sloppy darts before recovering to clinch victory.

“It wasn’t easy up there. Mark’s not the quickest player so I just tried to get into some sort of rhythm, ” said Littler.

Humphries admitted he is not happy with how he is playing after also failing to score a maximum and averaging just 89.47 in his first-round win.

“I think the last two months it has been hard work,” the Englishman said on ITV X.

“I am out of sorts, out of form, and struggling to find something. Since [winning] the Premier League final I have not been in the form I would have liked.

“It is depressing because I feel like something is there but it’s not coming out.

“It’s really tough to not perform at the level you can. I am finding myself not playing very well at the moment – but I can bounce back.

“I don’t think I have had one good game of darts in two months. Everyone knows that and everyone can see that.

“That doesn’t stop me coming back tomorrow and being the world number one that everyone knows.”

Humphries beat Damon Heta in the final to triumph last year and they will face each other again after the Australian thrashed Dean Hyland 6-1.

Top seed Stephen Bunting, aiming to add to his victories at the Bahrain Darts Masters and Nordic Darts Masters earlier this year, progressed past Ben Robb 6-3.

Mike De Decker 6-1 Gordon Mathers

Josh Rock 6-2 John Hurring

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Jonny Tata

Damon Heta 6-1 Dean Reyland

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Ben Robb

Luke Humphries 6-3 Haupai Puha

Luke Littler 6-4 Mark Cleaver

19:00 local time, 08:00 BST

Quarter-finals

Best of 11 legs

Stephen Bunting v Chris Dobey

Luke Humphries v Damon Heta

Gerwyn Price v Josh Rock

Luke Littler v Mike De Decker

Semi-finals

Best of 13 legs

Final