Littler’s UK Open defence off to winning start

World number one Luke Littler got his UK Open defence off to a winning start, overcoming Damon Heta 10-3 with another ‘Big Fish’ checkout along the way.

The tournament at Minehead, Somerset, sees more than 100 PDC Tour card holders take on 16 amateur qualifiers and a further 16 players from the Winmau Challenge and Development tours.

As the world’s top 32 entered the fray in round four, Littler took out 170 to move 7-2 ahead – a day after having notched two in his first Premier League win of the year.

He signed off in style shortly afterwards with a 120 finish comprising treble 20, double 20 and double 10.

Other action saw Michael van Gerwen edge past Nathan Aspinall 10-8 after coming from 4-2 down.

Describing Aspinall as “a fighter”, Van Gerwen told ITV he had kept “cool, especially at the end of the game” but admitted he had given “The Asp” too many chances.

Beau Greaves, who last month became the first woman to achieve that feat on the PDC ProTour, exited in round two, losing 6-4 to Darryl Pilgrim.