Luke Littler suffered a surprise 6-2 defeat at the hands of Dirk van Duijvenbode who progressed to his first European Tour quarter-final of the calendar year.
The 17-year-old was back in action in search of the Flanders Darts Trophy title and the £30,000 cash prize that comes with victory, but lost four consecutive legs and was knocked out by the world No. 21.
The Titan scored an average of 101.38, with eight throws over a hundred, to secure his first quarter-final on the tour for 12 months against none other than darts’ biggest name in Antwerp.
“I was so focused,” Van Duijvenbode said. “I said, ‘Dirk, if you want to win this game, you need to be at your best.’ We’ve never seen a kid like this; he has so much more to improve and he’s already unbeatable. I’m still not 100 per cent, and I won’t be this year. But winning these games gives a confidence boost.”
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