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Van Barneveld 1-1 Littler (sets 0-0) Barney hits his second 180 en route to an ultimately comfortable hold. He missed a couple of doubles but Littler wasn’t on a finish.
Van Barneveld 0-1 Littler (sets 0-0) A flying start, with both players hitting a maximum on their second visit. Littler takes out 50 in two darts for an assured 14-dart hold.
Luke Littler looks relaxed as he walks on to a song I don’t understand. Greenlight by Pitbull, it says here. Barney also looks pretty serene as he strolls on to Eye of the Tiger. The two men players embrace warmly and then get down to business. Littler will throw first.
Now it’s time for the main event, a match between the players ranked 29 and 164 in the world. I say that not to sneer but to emphasise how brilliantly bonkers this is.
Dolan has reached only one quarter-final before: 2019, when he was well beaten by Nathan Aspinall. He is a superior player now – his average is usually around 95 and his timing has never been better.
Breadan Dolan beats Gary Anderson 4-3!Extraordinary drama at Ally Pally! Dolan has broken Anderson to win the final set 3-1, though that doesn’t tell the story of an impossibly tense final leg.
With Anderson on 128, Dolan hit a 180 to leave 63. Anderson nailed two T18s before wiring D10, Dolan missed two match darts – but then Anderson missed three more on D5. That allowed Dolan to hit D3 and clinch one of the greatest wins of his career.
When the draw was made, we were all salivating at the prospect of Gerwyn Price v Gary Anderson in the last 16. Not on Brendan’s watch. He has taken care of both of them and will now play Luke Littler or Raymond van Barneveld for a place in the semi-bloody-finals.
Dolan 3-3 Anderson (legs 2-1) Dolan misses D12 for a 144 with Anderson waiting on 11 for a break – but then Anderson misses two at D4 himself! This is pulsating stuff. Anderson is now throwing to stay in the competition.
Dolan 3-3 Anderson (legs 1-1) My word, Anderson has just popped the bull to take out a crucial 82. Dolan was waiting on 70 for a 2-0 lead.
Dolan wins the sixth set! That’s an outstanding response from Dolan, who averaged 109 in the set to break back. For the first time this year, a last-16 match is going to a deciding leg. Dolan 3-3 Anderson
Dolan 2-3 Anderson (legs 2-0) Brendan Dolan won’t go away. He broke Anderson in the first leg of set six and now has a helluva chance to take it to a decider.
Anderson takes the fifth set. He’s one away, having averaged 107 in that set.
Anderson breaks! He’s 2-1 up in the fifth set and throwing for a 3-2 lead.
Anderson wins the fourth set 3-1! Dolan had a dart at the bull to break Anderson and go 2-1 up in the fourth set. Instead Anderson held and then clinched the set with a majestic 11-darter on Dolan’s throw. Anderson, suddenly rampant, is the strong favourite now. Dolan 2-2 Anderson
Anderson wins the third set! Gary Anderson is right back in it. He came from 2-0 down to take the third set against the throw, clinching it with a terrific 13-darter. In the previous leg Dolan missed one dart at D16 for the set. Ominously for him, Anderson has started peppering treble 20. Dolan 2-1 Anderson
Dolan 2-0 Anderson (legs 1-0) Dolan isn’t just beating Anderson – he’s hammering him. A comfortable hold makes it seven legs out of eight so far. Anderson, averaging just 85, has no rhythm.
Dolan wins the second set! Well, well. Gary Anderson has a great chance to break back – he was on 121 with Dolan nowhere, and he threw five. Single one, single one, single three. Eventually Anderson missed tops for a 116 and Dolan took out 100 with two darts.
If Anderson loses here, then one of Brendan Dolan, Luke Littler or Raymond van Barneveld will reach the semi-finals. They’re all fine players in different ways, but you’d have got very long odds on that three nights ago with Anderson and Gerwyn Price in that part of the draw.
Gary Anderson is in bother here. Brendan Dolan has just broken him to go 2-1 up in the second set and is now throwing for a two-set lead.
The rough guide to… Luke Littler
When Barney won his last world title, beating Phil Taylor in the greatest game of all time on New Year’s Day 2007, Luke Littler was 20 days away from being born.
PreambleWelcome hardcore darts fans, welcome casual observers. You don’t need to be an arrers addict to be captivated by the story of Luke Littler, the 16-year-old who is making history at the World Championship. At around 8.45pm tonight, this kebab-loving phenom will play Raymond van Barneveld, 40 years his senior, for a place in the quarter-finals. Forty years.
Littler’s precociousness was common knowledge within darts, but hardly anybody expected him to make such a splash in his first year at Alexandra Palace. He demolished Christian Kist with an average of 106.12, a record for a debutant, and summoned enough brilliance and resilience to beat Andrew Gilding and Matt Campbell. Only Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson have lost fewer than Littler’s two sets.
While it helps that the draw has opened up – Littler was scheduled to play James Wade in the last round and Peter Wright tonight – his achievements are entirely without precedent. No 16-year-old has reached this stage before, and now he is odds-on favourite to beat a five-time world champion.
It’s easy to overlook how big this is for Barney, who hasn’t reached the quarter-finals since 2017-18. He looked excellent in beating Radek Szaganski, less so when labouring past Jim Williams yesterday afternoon.
The result may depend on who deals best with a peculiar mental strain: Littler is facing one of his heroes, Barney will be up against an unusually hostile Ally Pally crowd. It’s going to be emotional.
The winner will play Brendan Dolan or Gary Anderson in the last eight. They’re on stage at the moment, but you don’t care about them, do you, I bet you don’t even know what Mensur Suljovic’s favourite double is and Dolan has just taken the first set 3-0. It was on throw but it’s still a perfect start for him.