PDC World Championship: Littler, MVG and Smith through to last 16

The 16-year-old English sensation Luke Littler was victorious over Matt Campbell, while Michael van Gerwen very easily bagged a win over Richard Veenstra and Michael Smith defeated Lat Razma to conclude the evening.

Catch up on the Wednesday evening action from Alexandra Palace:

Matt Campbell (57) 1-4 Luke Littler (164)

The fourth semi-final was between two unseeded players. Matt Campbell - on his fifth entry - celebrated Christmas in his native Canada and was allowed to start the first set, but immediately ceded the advantage. The 16-year-old debutant then made it 2-0 quite easily in his own leg.

He became the youngest World Cup player to ever win a match on this stage in the first round. Campbell missed an arrow on the bullseye, after which Littler had a first chance on tops and missed.

In his second throw out, the Canadian failed again, after which the Englishman made it 3-0 with the prospect of set 2 in which he would get to start himself.

Littler did not waste any time in the second set either. The first leg went very quickly to the Englishman, who also started throwing 180s. The second leg was in 12 arrows with a 130 out again for Littler. In the third leg, 'The Nuke' seemed to relax even further. He was able to calmly start a 56-out throw and with his sixth straight dart from eight attempts, he made it 3-0 again.

Comeback

In the first leg of set 3, Campbell managed to get on the scoreboard for the first time via a 72 throw-out that ended with tops. In the second leg, the Englishman was broken who made it 2-0 via a 101 throw. Via a 139, Littler could have broken back, after which Campbell forgot to throw out the set. Littler was then successful via single-2 and double-10 and came back to 1-2.

In his own leg, he found his triples and made it 2-2 easily via 56. Campbell started in the deciding game, in which Littler put away an out with 124, which he was able to exploit in six arrows but missed on double-20. The third arrow did hit for the Englishman: 3-2 in the set and 3-0 in sets.

In set 4, Littler just set up a 170 to start with, failing to find the double bull, but three arrows later it was 'just' 1-0 anyway. In the next leg, Campbell failed to convince and Littler got four darts on the break, but the Canadian was still the winner. Littler threw the ninth 180 of the match in the four leg and was on 105 in no time.

Those eventually went out in seven arrows: 2-1 in legs. Campbell picked up a steady 2-2 in 13 arrows after which Littler was allowed to start throwing out the match. He left a 167 for which he had six arrows but eventually missed on the bullseye. Campbell then came back into the match via a 120 throw: 3-2 in legs and 1-3 in sets.

In set 5, it was Littler who immediately applied a break to the novice Canadian. In impressive fashion via a 164-out throw. In his own leg, he set up another 170 and then 111 also failed to go out and Campbell broke back via tops. In the third leg there was another break, this time through a 100 from Littler and so the Englishman got to throw for the match again himself. This time he reached 167 and again had six darts.

On 110, however, it went wrong again, after which Campbell also failed to throw out a ton-plus. On the third match dart, he then hit the ball. 3-1 in the set and 4-1 in sets. In the next round, Raymond van Barneveld or Jim Williams is the next opponent.

Michael van Gerwen (2) 4-0 Richard Veenstra (79)

In the mutual Dutch duel, Michael van Gerwen was allowed to start the first set. On the cleaned world rankings, Van Gerwen is virtually back in the lead. Of course, much depends on the outcome of this World Cup.

Van Gerwen was on 128 after nine arrows and put it away on 32. One arrow was enough for that: 1-0 in 13 arrows. Richard Veenstra started his own leg with a 180 and continued with a 140, but failed to finish in 15 arrows. Van Gerwen also missed double-20, before arrow 18 into double-10 made it 1-1 anyway.

The third leg was again for MvG: 2-1. In the fourth leg, Van Gerwen struck 'against the darts', including a 174 that left 59. Van Gerwen needed only two arrows to do so: 3-1 in legs and 1-0 in sets.

Set 2 started with a steady leg from Veenstra in 'his own' set. Via tops, the first leg went to him: 1-0. Via an 86-out throw, Van Gerwen equalised again: 1-1. The bald wrecking ball from Vlijmen then took over the initiative, leaving 32 to break.

On the second of six darts he hit: 2-1 in legs and the chance to finish the set immediately. With his fourth 180 to boot, the frontrunner was already close to doubling the set lead. All the way after another 180'er to leave 42 behind. That one went out in two arrows: 3-1 in legs and 2-0 in sets.

120-out throw

After a set with two 11-darters, Van Gerwen got to start set 3 himself, in which he reached 73 in the first leg. Veenstra missed tops on 120. Van Gerwen hit the second chance: 1-0. In Veenstra's leg, he had six darts for 160 and only needed five: 1-1.

Van Gerwen stepped up his own game and added a 180. He used four arrows to shoot 128: 2-1 in 13. Veenstra was the first to hit a smooth 120 and 2-2. It was the first ton-plus finish. Van Gerwen was scoring sharply in his own leg, but needed two turns (three darts) on a double for 3-2 and 3-0 in sets.

The fourth set in which Veenstra started, Van Gerwen managed to steal the match immediately. With the second arrow on tops it was a hit: 1-0 and so Mighty Mike had the initiative to produce a clean sweep.

Veenstra had a chance to break back with 125 and then saw Van Gerwen miss 64 as well. Veenstra also missed on tops before Van Gerwen took advantage of double-10 for the third time: 2-0. Leg three was again okay for Veenstra, with Van Gerwen keeping the pressure on anyway, including his eighth 180. Fully in style, he then made a 130-out throw to decide the match: 3-0 in legs and 4-0 in sets.

Michael Smith (1) 4-1 Madars Razma (32)

Madars Razma was allowed to start in the first set and the Latvian did not fail in the first leg: 1-0. Title holder Michael Smith then came back easily to 1-1. In the third leg, Razma came under considerable pressure, but the throw out was on target: 2-1.

Smith also ran into trouble in his leg, but managed to neatly throw out a 130 for 2-2. Razma then got to throw for the first set and had no fewer than six darts for 97. He used five of those to make it 3-2 and 1-0 in sets.

Smith also struggled to score (triples) in set two, but managed to throw out a 110 to take the lead in his own set. In Razma's leg, Smith hit a 32 but missed three in a row. Razma made it 1-1.

Smith managed to keep his own leg in and made it 2-1. In the fourth leg, he managed to break his opponent to make it 1-1 in sets. Razma's slowing tactics seemed to have less impact on Smith in this set.

Three breaks

In the first leg of the third set, Smith managed to break his opponent immediately and thus gained the initiative. Yet the reigning world champion let it slip out of his fingers again and Razma was able to break back in two instances.

Smith again got chances in Razma's leg, who then failed to make it 2-1 anyway. This gave Smith the initiative again in set three, where a 180 was the prelude to a fine leg and the 2-1 lead in the match.

In set 4, there was another setback for Smith, who allowed himself to be broken by the irritatingly playing Latvian who used huge delaying tactics. Razma continued the form in his own leg in which he doubled the score in legs: 2-0. Smith, however, did not let up immediately and made it 1-2 as Razma was on 170.

In the next leg, Smith had a chance at that same 'Big Fish', but hit the single bull. Razma then failed himself and watched as Smith made it 2-2 and got to start the deciding leg himself. In it, he got six darts for 146. He succeeded: 3-2 in legs and 3-1 in sets at the next break.

Set five went as expected in the first two legs. Razma and Smith kept their legs, but in the third leg Smith took the initiative and broke the Latvian with an 80 throw. With that, Smith was allowed to start and throw for the match. The 180 to start was a statement.

Another 180 brought the venue to life, but on the seventh dart, the ideal leg became an impossibility. After 12 arrows, 20 was on the scoreboard and at arrow 13, the match was over.