Luke Humphries failed to hide his disappointment at suffering another defeat to Luke Littler at the Players Championship on Monday.
The Premier League duo were paired up to face off against one another in the third round of the seventh Players Championship tournament of the season.
Littler won the first Players Championship event back in February, beating Ryan Searle in the final.
The teenager skipped the fifth and sixth Players Championship events in Germany, but was back in the field on the Pro Tour on Monday.
He recorded wins over Keane Barry and Robbie Knops to progress to the third round where he set up a sixth meeting with Humphries of the year.
Luke Littler beat Luke Humphries at the Players Championship 7
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The world No 1 famously ended Littler's dream run at the World Championship with a dramatic victory in the final.
But Littler has had his revenge since then by winning all four contests between them both since then prior to their latest meeting at the Players Championship.
All but one of the matches this season between Littler and Humphries have gone to a deciding leg and that was the case again on Monday.
Littler held the advantage going into the final leg with the darts in hand and took full advantage to him on a possible finish first.
Humphries failed to put on the pressure as Littler had six darts to seal another win.
Littler left himself 64 before Humphries made one final attempt to throw his opponent off with a big score of 134.
But it wasn't enough as Littler confidently hit double-tops to move into the fourth round.
Humphries appeared devastated as Littler went to get his darts with the world champion seen stabbing himself in the side with his own arrows repeatedly.
The 29-year-old looked distraught as he put his face in his hands before puffing out his cheeks and shaking hands with Littler.
But the teenager failed to build on his victory over Humphries with a shock loss to Ross Smith in the very next round.
The match went to a deciding leg as Littler once again held the darts and looked on course to make it through to the quarter-finals as he was left on 94 while Smith still had 248 to go.
Luke Humphries appeared to stab himself with his own darts
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Littler appeared calm as he threw 46, but Smith then landed his eighth 180 of the match to quickly pile the pressure on when it mattered most.
The teen missed his two match dart attempts and Smith made no mistake with his and almost looked apologetic as he booked his place in the quarters.
Humphries and Littler could meet again this week in the 11th Premier League night of the season in Birmingham.
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Luke Humphries looked distraught after the match
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Humphries opens the night against Peter Wright before Littler faces off against Rob Cross.
If they both come through those matches then the pair could meet once again in the semi-finals.
Littler currently sits top of the table with only six nights remaining after winning back-to-back Premier League events.
But Humphries is close by as both players looked to book their spots in the play-offs.
