Luke Littler was practically tearing his hair out in a tight battle with Gary Anderson at the Grand Slam of Darts.
The high-flying pair contested an epic semi-final in Wolverhampton, with Littler digging deep to prevail 16-15 after a last-leg decider. Anderson put up an incredible fight, with his ruthless efficiency on the doubles almost sending ‘The Nuke’ crashing out and causing a big upset.
After the match, an emotional Littler gave an insight into how he felt while watching Anderson pelt the outer ring throughout their showdown.
“When he’s checking out ton-pluses and chipping out doubles with his last dart I’m like ‘Gary, just miss!’” the youngster told Sky Sports. “He was very good on the doubles today. I’m just so glad I won.”
Littler needed two breaks of throw late in the contest as he was forced to fight back from behind, like he did against Mike De Decker in the quarter-finals. He continued: “It frustrates me because I know I can come back and win games like this, but it would be better if I went into the lead like Gary did.
“I went into the last break thinking, ‘You have to dig deep like against De Decker’, and I can’t believe I won.”
Littler faces rank outsider Martin Lukeman in the Grand Slam final, and he has only a matter of hours to prepare. “I’ve just got to stay focused and be myself,” he said. “Martin will be up for it later on, so will I. But this [against Anderson] is one of the best games I’ve won.
“I just said to myself, ‘You know it’s there so do it’. When I made it 14-14, I had a little moment and thought, ‘This is not what you need’. The double two to go 15-15. The last leg, I did the same as against Mike, just threw… and yeah.”
Lukeman booked his spot in the tournament’s showpiece match with a 16-12 win over Mickey Mansell earlier on Sunday. Coming into the tournament ranked 45th in the world, Lukeman is already guaranteed the best result and the biggest payday of his career.
The 39-year-old needed to come through qualifying to even make it into the group stages. He has won every match since the tournament proper began, including twice beating Rob Cross and a 5-0 demolition of Peter Wright.
