LUKE LITTLER avenged his World Darts Championship final defeat by beating Luke Humphries and then followed up by booking his spot in the Dutch Masters final.
But he fell at the last hurdle as Michael van Gerwen won the night's showdown.
The teenage sensation celebrated his 17th birthday last week and put on a show to defeat Cool Hand in the Dutch Masters quarter-final tonight.
The impressive darts just continue to flow from Littler who followed his win over Humphries with a victory against Gerwyn Price in the semi-final.
Humphries was the winner the last time these two faced off in Ally Pally but he quickly found himself off the pace as Littler raced into a 2-0 lead.
A double double-tops in both legs handed The Nuke the advantage before Humphries pegged him back.
The world champion won four legs on the spin before Littler responded with back-to-back 180s to make it 4-3.
He then turned down the chance to finish with a Big Fish - cue more boos from the Dutch crowd after they did the same during his win over native Dirk van Duijvenbode.
And he may have let it affect him as he missed his favourite double ten to seal victory, before holding his own throw under pressure to win 6-5.
A relieved Littler was pleased to overcome the world number one after losing to him in the Ally Pally final earlier this month.
But he admitted he lost his concentration after losing four legs on the bounce, before coming back to proceed to the last four.
He said: “Happy with the way I played.
“I said earlier I had to put at least 10pts on that 90 average (from last night) and I did.
“I went 2-0 ahead and then I think I fell asleep for the next four legs but then I got back into it and I think I played well with my finishing and scoring. I’m happy.”
Littler just kept on building on his whirlwind success by beating Gerwyn Price 7-4 in the semi-final too.
But he lost 8-6 to Van Gerwen at the last stage.
