Luke Littler started his defence of the PDC World Championship title with a comfortable straight-sets win over Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas.
The 18-year-old world number one was the main attraction on opening night at Alexandra Palace.
Even though the scoreline looked easy, 49-year-old Labanauskas made things tricky at times. A former quarter-finalistand ranked world number 95, he held his throw early with a 130 checkout and pushed both of the first two sets to deciding legs.
Littler then stepped up with checkouts of 124 and 120 in the third set, putting him close to victory. He finished the match by hitting double six and will now face either Mario Vandenbogaerde (Belgium) or David Davies (Wales) in round two.
After the match, Littler said he was happy to get through the tough opener. He admitted he felt some nerves, but his strong early legs helped him settle down. He finished with a three-dart average of 101.54 and hit nine out of 14 doubles.
Littler became the youngest-ever world darts champion earlier this year when he beat Michael van Gerwen just before turning 18. Since then, he has completed the darts Triple Crown by winning the World Matchplay and securing the 2024 Premier League title, moving to number one in the PDC world rankings.
Elsewhere on opening night, 2023 world champion Michael Smith beat Lisa Ashton 3-0. Ashton, backed loudly by the crowd, started well by winning two of the first three legs, but Smith then won seven legs in a row to reach the last 64.
Smith said the first set was tense because of the crowd pressure but winning it helped him settle down.
Germany’s Arno Merk also made it through to round two with a 3-1 win over Kim Huybrechts.
This year’s World Championship features 128 players, up from 96 last year, and the first prize is now £1m.
The first round ends on 19 December, and the final will be played on 3 January 2026.
