There were two sizeable exits on the first night of the World Grand Prix in Leicester on Monday, with world champion Luke Littler the biggest casualty.
The world number one was beaten 2-1 by Luke Woodhouse, who came from a set down to record victory in the double-in, double-out format. For Littler, it represented a rare early exit from a major tournament and came just over a week after his quarter-final loss in the World Series of Darts finals where he had up until that point been on course for a clean sweep of majors in a calendar year.
Littler posted on his Instagram story after the match, saying: “Well played Luke Woodhouse, was a good game [and] and a good one to a part of aswell. [We] both hit and both missed but Luke took his chance. Nice week off now. All the best to Luke for the rest of [the] tournament.”
Whilst Littler is heading home, Woodhouse can now look forward to a last-16 clash against Nathan Aspinall after he sealed a pulsating win against Kevin Doets. Aspinall survived three match darts for the Dutchman to roar back.
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The other high-profile exit on Monday was Michael van Gerwen – a former six-time champion of this event. The Green Machine missed a dart at the bull to take his match with Ryan Joyce the distance. That left Joyce with 36 and after going inside on double-18 he made no mistake by pinning double nine.
Gerwyn Price made quick work of disposing of Sebastian Bialecki in a routine 2-0 win whilst Wessel Nijman saw off Rob Cross by the same scoreline.
Monday also saw wins for Johnny Clayton, Ross Smith and Danny Noppert. Tuesday night sees another eight games take place with James Wade v Joe Cullen and Gary Anderson v Damon Heta two fixtures that immediately jump off the page.
Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen and Stephen Bunting are also in action on day two.
