2025 World Matchplay Darts: Full Wednesday schedule as Luke Littler hunts glory
World Champion Luke Littler is back on the Blackpool stage aiming to take the next step to a first Betfred World Matchplay title.
The teenage sensation made a sparkling start to his bid at the weekend and now aims for a spot in the last eight at the Winter Gardens.
Fellow World Champions Gerwyn Price and Michael Van Gerwen are also back on the stage after being part of Monday's explosive session aiming to avoid shock exits.
Blackpool has already seen some major names go out of the £800,000 event with Luke Humphries ' first-game exit a stunner.
Seeds such as Rob Cross and Dave Chisnall have followed Cool Hand out of the door leaving Littler as the strong title favourite. Tuesday four ties sees multiple World Champions take to the stage and Record Sport takes you through the quartet of eagerly-anticipated encounters.
Schedule of Play (7pm)
Second Round
Andrew Gilding v Dirk Van Duijvenbode
Gilding missed double 12 for a spectacular nine-darter in his tie against Damon Heta before running out a 12-10 winner in a Winter Gardens epic. Both players averaged over a ton in a compelling contest and it was Goldfinger who prevailed in a dramatic tie-break. Van Duijvenbode earned his last 16 spot with a superb 10-8 win over Rob Cross. The Dutchman overturned a 6-2 deficit to stun the 2019 champion, unleashing a brilliant late barrage, including a magnificent tops-tops 137 checkout, to complete the comeback.
Chris Dobey v Gerwyn Price
2022 runner-up Price maintained his terrific form to overcome Daryl Gurney in an explosive encounter which made headlines for an end-of-match and backstage bust-up. The Welshman defied a spectacular 150 checkout from his rival with back-to-back legs of 11 and 14 darts to wrap up a 10-7 success.
Dobey got over a sluggish start to advance to the last 16 for a fourth straight year with a comfortable 10-5 victory over German No.2 Ricardo Pietreczko, winning seven of the last eight legs to progress.
Luke Littler vs Jermaine Wattimena
Littler sent out a statement to his title rivals producing a devastating display to celebrate his first win on the iconic Winter Gardens stage. The teenager swept aside a shellshocked Ryan Searle in just 16 minutes of play. Littler was imperious from start to finish at the Empress Ballroom averaging 108.92 and crashing in five maximums in his 10-2 demolition of the Somerset star. Wattimena had a tougher passage as he fended off a spirited fightback from 2021 champion Peter Wright to secure his first World Matchplay win, at the fifth attempt. The Dutchman suffered a quartet of first round exits between 2018 and 2021, but he marked his return with a hard-fought 10-8 victory at the expense of the two-time World Champion.
Michael van Gerwen vs Josh Rock
Van Gerwen overturned a 4-3 deficit against Raymond van Barneveld to prevail in a battle of the Dutch darting legends. Barney exploited some early errors from Van Gerwen to hit the front before the World No.3 found his range in the closing stages to progress. Rock produced a blistering performance to begin his bid for Matchplay glory. The World Cup winner came of age on his Winter Gardens return to sweep aside former European Champion Ross Smith. The Northern Irishman punished a nightmare start from Smith to win the opening five legs without reply, and although Smith grew into the contest, Rock always remained in control.
Thursday July 24 (8pm) - Quarter-Finals x2
Friday July 25 (8pm) - Quarter-Finals x2
Saturday July 26 (8pm) - Semi-Finals
Sunday July 27 - Afternoon Session (1pm)
Betfred Women's World Matchplay
Quarter-Finals
Beau Greaves v Kirsi Viinikainen
Lisa Ashton v Robyn Byrne
Noa-Lynn van Leuven v Lorraine Winstanley
Fallon Sherrock v Gemma Hayter
Semi-Finals
Greaves/Viinikainen v Ashton/Byrne
Van Leuven/Winstanley v Sherrock/Hayter
Final
Evening Session (8pm)
Betfred World Matchplay Final
WHERE TO WATCH: The Betfred World Matchplay will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
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The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
World Matchplay Darts 2025 LIVE RESULTS: Luke Littler BEATS James Wade and makes HISTORY to take home title
LUKE Littler has WON the World Matchplay in Blackpool - and has made HISTORY in the process! Teenage sensation Luke Littler made history by becoming the youngest triple crown winner ever, winning the World Championship, Premier League Darts and now World Matchplay. James Wade featured in his SEVENTH World Matchplay final against him, but was unable to stop the continuous rise of Luke Littler at the Winter Gardens. Llast year's champion Luke Humphries suffered a SHOCK first round exit against Gian van Veen, with his English teammate Littler taking the title from him.
Metro
5 hours ago
- Metro
Luke Littler eyes mammoth Phil Taylor record after historic World Matchplay win
Luke Littler is not ruling out breaking Phil Taylor's monumental record in the World Matchplay after winning the event for the first time on Sunday night. The 18-yaer-old turned in a stunning performance to beat James Wade 18-13 in a brilliant final in Blackpool. The world champion finished the match with a blistering average of 107.24, throwing 17 180s over the piece. Wade enjoyed the dream start to the match, racing into a 5-0 lead, and played beautifully for most of the contest, incredibly averaging 101.54 over 31 frames and still losing. Littler was in untouchable form, though, and expects to be for a long time to come as he is already having a look at Taylor's absurd record of 16 World Matchplay titles. The Power made the Blackpool event his own, so much so that the trophy is named after the legend of the oche, and it was stirring for the Nuke to get his hands on it for the first time. 'It means everything,' he said. 'Obviously he came here on his last Matchplay and picked up the trophy. To win it 16 times, Phil was the player he was, but just to get my name on the trophy means a lot.' On his chances of reaching 16 titles himself, Littler added: 'That's the only thing, its carrying on for that amount of time, but maybe in the next 16 times I might have broken it. I might come back every year and just win it! 'I want to conquer everything in this sport and I've ticked this one off tonight. I want to win one of everything and we'll see what happens from there.' Littler has given himself a target of ticking off every major PDC title once and few would doubt that he can achieve that, but what would come next? 'That's what everyone's probably thinking, what do I do after I've won one of everything,' he said. 'But for myself, just build on it, get multiple of everything. get triple of everything. But yeah, once I win one of everything I won't pack it in just yet.' When the dream becomes a reality❤️ means the world to have my hands on the Phil Taylor trophy and complete the triple crown🏆 — Luke Littler (@LukeTheNuke180) July 27, 2025 The teenager is not short of targets and before 16 World Matchplays and one of every title, he is eyeing up the world number one spot, which he is yet to claim in his career. Despite Littler's incredible success so far in his career, Luke Humphries has held onto the top spot in the rankings, but the Nuke knows he could usurp him by the end of the year. 'Obviously I've looked at the rankings, provisional world number one for the Worlds, if Luke doesn't defend all that prize money,' he said. 'Obviously I don't want him to, I'd love to be world number one.' Littler landed a record 64 180s in his World Matchplay campaign, beating the previous high watermark of 56 set by Adrian Lewis in 2013. More Trending It was a stunning string of performances from the world number two, including a nine-darter against Josh Rock in the semi-finals. Wade also enjoyed a fabulous tournament, returning to the Blackpool final for the first time since 2015, remarkably his seventh Matchplay showpiece. His run was ended in the final by Littler, just as it was at the UK Open this season, but his performance was massively better on Sunday than it was in Minehead, when he was brushed aside 11-2. MORE: Luke Littler names darts rival with best mentality in the sport MORE: Signing Viktor Gyokeres makes it a win-or-bust season for Mikel Arteta at Arsenal MORE: Alexander Isak odds: Would Newcastle really sell their star striker to Arsenal or Liverpool?
The Guardian
6 hours ago
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Luke Littler beats James Wade to claim World Matchplay crown for first time
Luke Littler won his first World Matchplay crown as James Wade's remarkable run in Blackpool fell at the final hurdle. Littler claimed a hard-fought 18-13 victory at the Winter Gardens to become the fifth player to win the PDC triple crown - Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Luke Humphries having also won World Championship, Matchplay and Premier League titles. Wade was in his seventh Matchplay final 18 years on from his solitary success in 2007, which came six months after Littler was born. Littler's scoring power in a high-quality contest proved decisive - he hit 17 180s to Wade's six in averaging 107 - and set a new tournament record of 64 maximums, beating Adrian Lewis' previous best of 56. 'It means absolutely everything,' Littler told Sky Sports after winning the last four legs to hold the Phil Taylor Trophy aloft. 'I idolise Phil, he's come here 16 times and won it. Now my name is on this trophy - and I can say I've completed the Triple Crown. 'Since I started on the tour and got my tour card I've always said to myself, 'as long as I win one of every major I'll be happy'. I've only got a few left to tick off and I'll definitely chase the majors I haven't won yet.' Littler had to mount another comeback 24 hours after losing the first five legs of his semi-final to Northern Ireland's Josh Rock. Wade stormed into a 5-0 lead but did not have a single dart at a double in the second mini-session as Littler levelled in style. The 42-year-old left-hander produced an 11-darter in the next, but Littler responded by winning successive legs to lead for the first time at 7-6. Wade managed to keep in touch, helped by a bull finish in the 19th leg, and fought back from a double break down to cut the gap to just one at 14-13. But Littler pulled away and crossed the line in style with a 115 out shot (20-57-38), the biggest finish of the match. 'A little bit,' Littler said when asked if he had felt in control. 'Five-nil down once again, I said, 'I've been here before, what are you doing?' But I managed to pull it out of the bag and win the next five. I've shown I can come back from 5-0 or 7-3 down. I'm happy I can pull myself out of these scorelines, but I don't want to be 5-0 down again. James started to drop off a bit and I started to find my best darts.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion By winning the title 18-year-old Littler became the youngest ever champion in Matchplay history, six years younger than Wade when he lifted the title.
