Luke Littler produced a stunning display to overpower Michael van Gerwen 6-4 in the final and win his third Premier League night of the season in Berlin, climbing to the top of the standings at the halfway point. The 19-year-old, who is the first player to win three nights this season, had earlier set a new highest average in Berlin of 108.58 in his semi-final victory over Gerwyn Price. In the final, Littler raced into a 3-0 lead before Van Gerwen pegged it back to all square, but Littler held in leg seven and then sealed the win with two brilliant 170 checkouts—the second coming in the deciding leg to avoid a final-leg decider. "This is definitely the best I've played in a night," Littler told Sky Sports.
For Van Gerwen, who had not won a match since week two before this event, it was another frustrating encounter with Littler, who also hit the maximum checkout against him in Dublin last week. The victory continues a resurgence for Littler, the 2024 winner, who sat seventh after the opening four weeks of the campaign. He now leads the standings and may set his sights on matching or beating his own record of six nightly wins from last year.
Elsewhere in Berlin, Northern Ireland's Josh Rock finally got off the mark in his difficult debut Premier League campaign, picking up his first points with a quarter-final win over Jonny Clayton, who led the standings going into the night. Rock, who had lost in the quarter-finals in the first seven weeks, was visibly emotional and sank to his knees after the 6-3 victory. However, he faltered in the semi-finals against Van Gerwen, missing darts to go 3-0 up and finishing with an 18.75% checkout success rate. Speaking to Sky Sports, Rock said: "I had to show my emotions - relief is an understatement. I'm up there to win as much as I can and it just hasn't happened in the first seven weeks but I am on the board now."
The night's results at the Uber Arena in Berlin saw quarter-finals of Jonny Clayton 3-6 Josh Rock, Luke Humphries 3-6 Michael van Gerwen, Luke Littler 6-3 Stephen Bunting, and Gerwyn Price 6-1 Gian van Veen, followed by semi-finals of Rock 3-6 Van Gerwen and Littler 6-4 Price. The Premier League continues on Thursday, 2 April at the AO Arena in Manchester with quarter-finals: Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price v Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen v Luke Littler, and Jonny Clayton v Josh Rock. The league stage runs for 16 weeks, with the top four progressing to the play-off night at London's O2 Arena on 28 May.
