Luke Littler reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Darts Masters as he aims to win his eighth PDC title of the year.
The 17-year-old, whose tournament victories in 2024 include Premier League Darts, beat local qualifier Rob Modra 6-2 in Wollongong to set up a last-eight meeting with Michael Smith on Saturday.
Modra missed a dart to level his match with Littler at 3-3 and the top seed made his opponent pay to remain in the hunt for a third World Series title of 2024, after the Bahrain Masters and Poland Masters.
Smith earlier defeated Stuart Coburn 6-2 – bookending his victory with ton-plus finishes – while there was also a routine win for world No 1 Luke Humphries, who clinched a 6-1 demolition of Joe Comito with a 120 checkout.
Luke Humpries thumped Joe Comito 6-1 in Wollongong
The eight PDC players – Littler, Smith, Humphries, Gerwyn Price, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Peter Wright, Damon Heta and Rob Cross – earned their spots via the World Series order of merit.
They were joined in the competition by eight regional qualifiers, including 2010 World Championship runner-up Simon Whitlock.
The tournament reaches a conclusion on Saturday, with the best-of-11-leg quarter-finals followed by best-of-13-leg semi-finals before the final is a best-of-15-leg match.
Australian Darts Masters – first round results
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Jeremy Fagg
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Brenton Lloyd
Michael Smith 6-2 Stuart Coburn
Luke Humphries 6-1 Joe Comito
Luke Littler 6-2 Rob Modra
Peter Wright vs Simon Whitlock
Damon Heta vs John Hurring
Rob Cross vs Haupai Puha
Australian Darts Masters quarter-finals
Luke Littler vs Michael Smith
Luke Humphries vs Dimitri Van den Bergh
Rob Cross/Haupai Puha vs Peter Wright/Simon Whitlock
Gerwyn Price vs Damon Heta/John Hurring
Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app – giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost.