Luke Littler battled back from 3-1 down against Danny Noppert in front of a fiercely partisan Amsterdam crowd on Friday night, winning 6-4 to keep his World Series of Darts Finals title bid alive. The world number one was whistled and booed as Noppert threatened a major upset, but Littler gradually wrestled control away from the Dutchman before delivering the standout moment of the match with a 95 checkout via two double tops at 4-4.
By then, Littler had already made his feelings towards the crowd clear. After punishing a Noppert miss to level at 3-3, he turned towards the stands and put his hands to his ears. "Yeah, I think I just had to do it for myself, didn't I?" Littler said when asked about his response to the atmosphere. "But then I also had to give the crowd a bit, because everyone needs to know it's not every throw, it's every dart - whistle, boo. But yeah, if that's what I've got to deal with for the next 10, 15, 20 years, then I'm all there for it."
The opening stages belonged to Noppert. Littler began with a 14-dart hold, but the Dutchman immediately answered with a 112 checkout before breaking after Littler missed three darts at tops. Noppert then found double top for a third successive leg to establish a 3-1 advantage and give the Amsterdam crowd genuine belief. Littler finally stopped the run in the fifth before levelling at 3-3 when Noppert dragged a dart at tops into the five segment. "I wouldn't say I'm putting pressure on myself," Littler said when asked whether his extraordinary winning run was on his mind at that stage. "It's just focusing on the round, round after round. I didn't think about it then. I just thought, 'Just try and get yourself back into it, give some back to the crowd.' And yeah, that's what I done."
There was another brief flashpoint shortly afterwards. Having hit a 180, Noppert celebrated while walking back past Littler as the Englishman prepared to throw. Littler stepped away before Noppert attempted to tap him and explain himself, only for Littler to ignore him in the heat of the match. "No, he hit a 180 and then obviously you give it a fist bump, so I just said in my head, I was just like, 'Yep, that's fine,'" Littler explained afterwards. "But then he done it again as I was about to throw, so I stepped back. Then he tried to tap me, but in the heat of the moment I just ignored him. And then at the end he said he tried to tap me, and I was just like, 'Yeah, I was in my own world.' But yeah, it is what it is." Noppert also moved quickly to make clear afterwards that there had been no intention to disrupt Littler, explaining that he had tried to apologise immediately because he was already conscious of how much noise was being directed at his opponent. The pair spoke after the match and there was no suggestion of any lasting issue between them.
After the brief interruption, the focus quickly returned to the scoreboard. With the match locked at 4-4, Littler produced the finish of the night, taking out 95 on two tops to move within one leg of victory before completing the job in the tenth. "Obviously going from a losing position, 3-1 down, to come back and win, it's always a great feeling," he said. The victory also keeps alive Littler's remarkable attempt to complete a clean sweep of the major televised titles staged so far in 2026. Asked what such an achievement would mean, Littler did not shy away from its potential place in darts history. "Yeah, it'd be probably, maybe, if not one of the best darts achievements anyone's ever achieved," he said. "But yeah, it's still a long, long way away."
Nathan Aspinall now stands between Littler and a place in the quarter-finals, with the format moving away from the short first-to-six opening round. Littler knows Aspinall has made a habit of raising his level whenever the pair meet. "Obviously Nathan says that, but when it comes to the game he throws everything at me," Littler said. "Every time he produces his best, I perform at my best." With the first-round scare behind him, Littler moves on still chasing another major title in a season that has so far offered very little respite.
