Michael van Gerwen overcame Beau Greaves in a thriller as reigning champion Luke Littler opened his Grand Slam of Darts title defence with a victory.
Three-time world champion Van Gerwen looked to be cruising to a win at 4-2 in Wolverhampton, only for 21-year-old Greaves to win back-to-back legs to take the match to a decider.
Doncaster’s Greaves had three darts to take out 52 for victory but could not finish, before Van Gerwen saw out the match.
Greaves, who beat Littler in October to become the first woman to reach the World Youth Championship final, must now beat former champion Gary Anderson on Sunday to stay in the competition.
It was smoother sailing for Littler, 18, as he continued his 100% record at the tournament with a 5-1 win against Karel Sedlacek.
The world number two, a winner on his debut in 2024, was frustrated by dropping a single leg.
“I was obviously looking for the whitewash,” said Littler.
“I just thought to myself, when I lost the bull, you’ve got to get off to a quick start. Anyone has to – it’s only first to five. That’s what I’ve done. But yeah, not the best that I dropped the leg.”
Littler is aiming to take Luke Humphries’ spot at the top of the rankings by the year’s end, but the world number one made an emphatic start to his bid for a second Grand Slam of Darts title as he breezed past Alex Spellman.
The 30-year-old hit two maximums as he completed a straightforward 5-0 victory, helping him to the top of Group A after Michael Smith’s 5-3 win against Nathan Aspinall.
Elsewhere, Gerwyn Price was beaten by Rickey Evans, Wessel Nijman overcame Josh Rock and Stefan Bellmont beat James Wade.
All 32 players featured on the opening day of the round-robin group stage in Wolverhampton, with the day evenly split between two sessions.