Luke Littler kept his World Matchplay title hopes alive with a commanding 16-7 quarter‑final victory over Josh Rock in Blackpool.
Rock matched Littler early on, trading breaks to lock the score at 5‑5.
After Littler, aged 19, rattled off five consecutive legs, Rock found no route to recovery; the defending champion, in scintillating form, sailed into the semi‑finals.
Having fired 17 maximum 180s and posted a scoring average of 109.57, Littler remarked, ‘At the moment, everything is going according to plan.’
The teen added, ‘I feel confident; I can afford to slip on a few doubles given my strong scoring.’
‘Once again, it was a stellar performance, though credit to Josh for putting up a respectable fight.’
Littler will face unseeded Dirk van Duijvenbode of the Netherlands in Saturday’s semi‑final.
Earlier on Thursday, tournament outsider Dirk van Duijvenbode weathered a late rally from Gary Anderson to secure his maiden Matchplay semi‑final berth.
Anderson, the 2018 World Matchplay champion, attempted to overturn an eight‑leg deficit with a strong late effort that featured a 154 checkout, yet Van Duijvenbode prevailed 16‑13.
Looking back at his second‑round tie‑break victory over Michael van Gerwen, Van Duijvenbode recalled that his nervousness — described as shaking ‘like a little child crying for his mum’ — let his opponent back into the contest after he had led 8‑4.
Having again led 8‑4 on Thursday, Van Duijvenbode lost two successive legs before reeling off six straight to build a 14‑6 advantage.
Nevertheless, it took another nine legs for Van Duijvenbode to clinch the match, as a revived Anderson applied relentless pressure.
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