Luke Littler through to quarter-finals of Australian Darts Masters, will next face Michael Smith on Saturday | Darts News

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.

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

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