Luke Littler has made history at the Bahrain Masters by hitting a nine-darter in the very first leg of his quarter-final against Nathan Aspinall.
The 16-year-old is making his World Series of Darts debut this week in Bahrain and marked his first appearance with a victory over Man Lok Leung.
A tougher test awaited for Littler in the quarter-final against Aspinall, who won last year's World Matchplay and finished runner-up to Michael van Gerwen in the World Series.
Littler made a shaky start against Leung before finding the kind of form he showed at Alexandra Palace over the festive period.
Luke Littler hit a nine-dart finish against Nathan Aspinall
ITV
But the teenage darts sensation didn't waste any time in getting up to speed as he hit a nine-darter in the very first leg.
Back-to-back 180s were followed by a confident treble 20 and treble 19 before wrapping up the nine-dart finish on double 12.
Littler was composed throughout the leg but immediately jumped for joy as his final dart landed on the double 12.
The Bahrain crowd were up on their feet cheering Littler's achievement and Aspinall also congratulated his opponent with a warm embrace at the oche.
It's only the second nine-dart finish has been achieved at the World Series of Darts after Phil Taylor did so at the Sydney Masters back in 2015.
He also becomes the youngest player to hit a televised nine-dart finish, smashing the record previously held by Michael van Gerwen.
The Dutchman was 17 years, 298 days old when he hit a nine-dart finish in the semi-finals of the Masters of Darts tournament back in 2007.
Littler turns 17 years old on Sunday and will look to create even more history this week.
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!
— ITV Sport (@ITVSport) January 19, 2024
Luke Littler has just hit a nine-darter at #BahrainDarts24! 🔥@ITVX pic.twitter.com/iemDkJPrpZ
Aspinall showed his class by getting back into the match soon after Littler's nine-dart finish.
But Littler proved too much for his stablemate, hitting six 180s and hitting an incredible average of 104.5.
He's just two victories away from winning his first seniors title and faces Gerwyn Price next, who knocked out world No 1 Luke Humphries.
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Nathan Aspinall congratulated Luke Littler
ITV
Littler's perfect first leg was also the 90th televised nine-dart finish with the last coming back in November when Van Gerwen did it in the Players Championship Finals clash against Humphries.
Only 15 players have hit multiple televised nine-dart finishes in their career with Taylor holding the record with 11.
But at just 16 years of age, Littler will fancy his chances of joining that illustrious list soon.
