World champion Luke Littler beat Nathan Aspinall in a dramatic finale to reach the last eight of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam.
Littler, 19, trailed 9-8 in a best-of-19 contest that had been close throughout and he held throw in the 18th leg to force a decider.
Needing to break Aspinall’s throw to win, Littler started the leg with his seventh 180 of the match and checked out 58 for a match-clinching 12-darter.
The two Englishmen had been involved in a World Matchplay classic in July, when Littler threw a nine-darter in the opening leg of an 11-8 victory.
“The pace of the game suits us both, we’re good friends and we bring the best out of each other,” said Littler, who has a chance to complete a clean sweep of the PDC’s premier events in 2026.
“I only played well in the last session [from 6-6 onwards]. In the first two sessions, I didn’t feel confident but I managed to get it to 6-6 and I was very good in the third.”
The world number one will meet former Premier League champion Jonny Clayton in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
Clayton beat Japan’s Motomu Sakai 10-8 and is one of two Welshmen in the last eight, with Gerwyn Price also progressing courtesy of a 10-5 win against Canada’s Jim Long.
England’s James Wade was the other winner in Saturday’s evening session, defeating Wessel Nijman of the Netherlands, and will face Price next.