Luke Littler and crowd goes wild for Gerwyn Price’s nine-darter – but teen ends barren run against him
Gerwyn Price sent Luke Littler and the crowd into delirium with a nine-darter but it still was not enough for victory.
Littler snapped his six-game losing streak against Price to prevail 6-3 in the quarter-final of night ten of the Premier League in Manchester.
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It marked Littler's first win over Price in 350 days, with his last victory over the Welshman coming in last year's Premier League on April 25.
The teen, competing in front of his home crowd, was an unstoppable force from the outset as he raced to a 5-1 lead.
But just when Littler thought he'd cruise to a big victory, Price produced nine darts of perfection that sent pint cups soaring through the air.
Price kicked off his nine-darter with two 180s and wrapped it up with a 141 checkout where he went treble 19 and treble 20 before he sealed it with double 12.
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The Welshman immediately roared in delight while Littler could only laugh along as the pair shook hands.
Sky Sports commentator Wayne Mardle said: "Get in there, pal! Magnificent, absolutely magnificent."
Price's nine-darter meant he became the fourth of the eight Premier League competitors this year to have achieved darting perfection.
Littler, Luke Humphries and Rob Cross were the other three to have hit the nine-darter.
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The former world champion stoked fears among the Manchester locals of an improbable comeback when he won the eighth leg to reduce the deficit to 5-3.
But Littler, in true world champion fashion, ensured there would be no such threat of a seventh-straight loss to Price.
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The 18-year-old held his nerve in front of family and friends to wrap up victory with a checkout of 52.
Immediately after pinning the winning dart of double 20, Littler turned around and pointed to his watch as if to say, 'about time'.
Although Price was on the wrong end of the 6-3 scoreline, he will still go home a happy man given nine-darters in the Premier League earn players an 18ct gold dart worth £30,000 as a gift from lead sponsors BetMGM.
It was a tightly contested battle on a statistical front, as Littler averaged 103.93 while Price averaged 103.47.
Littler's average marked an impressive seventh out of ten Premier League nights this year he has averaged 100 or more.
Price also threw five 180s, with Littler only able to muster just the one maximum across the entire contest.
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Following the defeat, Price wrote in an Instagram story: "Couple of doubles cost me, was a difficult crowd but loved every minute of it, felt sorry for him (Littler) at his home coming. It won't happen again."
Unfortunately for Littler, he could conjure up the same magic against Luke Humphries in the semi-final.
The pair were locked at 4-4 but Humphries' class prevailed as he ran away with the last two legs to wrap up a 6-4 victory.
Littler's profligacy on the checkouts ultimately proved costly, as he hit just four of 21 for a checkout percentage of 19 per cent.
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As for Humphries, he hit six of 13 checkouts (46.2 per cent) to progress to the final against Nathan Aspinall.
Despite being down 3-0, Aspinall came back to win 6-4 and take out his first Premier League night this year.
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