Littler completes World Series double at NZ Masters

Teenager Luke Littler beat defending champion Luke Humphries 8-4 to win the New Zealand Masters in Auckland and complete a World Series double after his victory in Australia last week.

The world champion saw off Mike de Decker 6-2 and Gerwyn Price 7-2 in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively on Saturday before setting up yet another showdown with Humphries.

Littler threatened to make light work of the world number one, cruising into a 3-0 lead before being pegged back to 3-2.

The 18-year-old again rattled off three legs in a row to move 6-3 in the lead before eventually wrapping up an impressive 8-4 victory.

“I felt untouchable tonight,” Littler said.

“It couldn’t have gone any better – the scoring, the doubles and then in the final I just felt untouchable.”

The Englishman recorded an average of 115.02 on his way to victory – the highest average ever in a World Series event final.

It was the fourth consecutive success for Littler against Humphries and edges him ahead in their career head-to-head with eight wins to seven.

“I was really good tonight and he [Humphries] couldn’t do much,” Littler added. I was disappointed going in 4-2 because it could have been 5-1 or 6-0.