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Luke Littler’s bid to become world number one for the first time suffered a setback with a shock 10-7 defeat to James Wade at the European Championships in Dortmund.
World Champion Littler, who defeated the Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld In the early stages, would have reached the current number one Luke Humphries At its peak with a win in the tournament.
But it was 2018 European champion Wade who reached the quarter-finals with his first career win against Littler in front of television cameras.
The 18-year-old came back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 and with the scores level at 4-4, he missed the bull by a narrow margin as he went for a 170-checkout and Wade went ahead 5-4.
A 110-checkout put Wade 6-4 ahead and with Littler unable to close the gap, the 42-year-old world number five sealed victory with a 108-finish.
Humphries, knowing his number one spot was safe for now, was forced to work hard in his second round match against Scotland’s Cameron Menzies and took a 10–9 lead in the decider.
Earlier on Saturday, top seed Nathan Aspinall was eliminated after losing 10-7 Netherlands Number two Danny Noppert and four-time European champion michael van gerwen Defeated world number eight Chris Dobbie 10-5.
Ryan Searle fell victim to impressive world youth champion Gian Van Veen, who advanced to the third round with a 10-2 win, and Ryan Joyce defeated German number one Martin Schindler 10-7.
Another home favourite, Riccardo Pietrzco beat 2024 runner-up Jermaine Votimena 10-6, while 2022 champion Ross Smith lost 10-6 to Daryl Gurney.