Luke Littler delivered a stunning performance at the 2026 European Championship in Dortmund, posting a 105.05 average in a 6-3 victory over William O’Connor to move into round two. The world number one, aiming to win this title for the first time and complete a clean sweep of TV titles, showed no signs of the defeat to Luke Woodhouse at the World Grand Prix, taking out the first three legs in just 43 darts. O’Connor briefly halted the onslaught with a 107 outshot in leg four, but Littler responded by winning the next two legs in 31 darts. Despite a 105 checkout for a break and a 13-dart hold from The Magpie to close to 5-3, Littler sealed the win with a 15-dart hold in leg nine.
However, the night belonged to the upsets as Michael van Gerwen and Wessel Nijman, the number two seed, both crashed out. Van Gerwen, a four-time winner of this event, was comprehensively outplayed by fellow Dutchman Kevin Doets, losing 6-3. Doets, who last met Van Gerwen on a TV stage at the 2021 Players Championship Finals, broke throw with a 106 outshot and held with a 132 checkout to race into a 3-0 lead. The Green Machine briefly rallied with consecutive 15-darters to close to 5-3, but Doets closed out the match with a 12-dart hold in leg nine. Nijman squandered multiple opportunities at double, finishing just 5/20 on the checkouts, as Martin Schindler took a last-leg decider 6-5. Schindler won the first three legs, but Nijman fought back with a 100 outshot to level at 3-3. Both players held twice to force a decider, where Schindler found a 15-dart hold on 80 to complete the win.
Littler will face Nathan Aspinall in round two after The Asp defeated Cristo Reyes by the same 6-3 scoreline. Aspinall responded to Reyes’s early break with a 134 outshot in leg six, then held with a 112 in leg seven. After Reyes missed darts for leg eight, Aspinall cleaned up 90 to go two in front and sealed the match with a 17-dart hold. Doets meets Krzysztof Ratajski on Saturday night after the number three seed beat Dave Chisnall 6-2. Ratajski won the first three legs but missed two darts for leg four, allowing Chisnall to get on the board with a 22-dart hold. Back-to-back 17-darters saw Ratajski move within one, and despite Chisnall winning leg seven, Ratajski won with a 16-dart hold, as Chisnall finished 2/14 on the outer ring.
Schindler will face another Dutchman in round two after Jermaine Wattimena took down Ryan Joyce 6-3 in the opening match of the night. Joyce missed seven darts at a double across the opening five legs, allowing Wattimena to hit checkouts of 106 and 120 to break throw and go within one of the match. Wattimena then missed a dart for a clean sweep, as Joyce pinged double ten to get his first leg on the board. Joyce won the next two legs to get back in the match, but squandered a dart at double 18 in leg nine, allowing Wattimena to finally end the match by hitting tops for a 20-dart break. Jonny Clayton saw off Germany’s Niko Springer 6-3 to get his campaign off and running. The Ferret raced into a 3-0 lead before Springer hit a 74 outshot to get into the contest. Four holds followed, meaning Clayton led 5-3 going into leg nine. He missed bull for a 121 checkout and the match, but eventually cleaned up the 25 remaining to move into round two, despite hitting only 26% of his doubles in the match.
Clayton takes on Josh Rock on Saturday evening after Rocky took advantage of a below-par Chris Dobey to take a 6-1 victory in the final match of the night. Hollywood won the first leg on double five, before Rock hit back-to-back 11-darters to go in front for the first time. He followed that with back-to-back 18-darters, as Dobey missed multiple darts for leg five to stop the rot. Rock had a 4-1 lead, which he converted into a place in round two, hitting a stunning 154 checkout in leg six before breaking the Dobey throw in leg seven to complete the victory, averaging 100.74 in the process as Hollywood finished 1/12 on the checkouts.
Saturday’s afternoon session at the Westfalenhalle sees Cameron Menzies face Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting take on Kim Huybrechts, Ross Smith meet Damon Heta, and Gian van Veen play Luke Woodhouse. The evening session features Martin Schindler v Jermaine Wattimena, Jonny Clayton v Josh Rock, Krzysztof Ratajski v Kevin Doets, and Nathan Aspinall v Luke Littler.
