World champion Luke Littler made a winning start to his European Championship campaign, defeating William O'Connor 6-3 in the first round in Dortmund. The 19-year-old, who is seeking to complete the set of major trophies, fired in six 180s and averaged 105 in the best-of-11 contest. It was his first match since a surprise semi-final defeat at the World Youth Championship in early October.
Littler, the world number one, will next face Nathan Aspinall, who beat Cristo Reyes 6-3. "Obviously, [I've played] a few exhibitions, but yeah, just obviously been chilling out, practicing, and this is the one I really want," said Littler. "I've just got to take it one game at a time, and obviously it's the last one missing, so I can't be putting too much pressure on myself. I'm just happy to get back on stage and do my job."
However, there was an early exit for three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen, who was comprehensively beaten 6-3 by fellow Dutchman Kevin Doets. Van Gerwen, 37, found himself 5-1 down before eventually succumbing. Doets, 28, will face Krzysztof Ratajski in the last 16 after Ratajski beat Dave Chisnall 6-2.
Jonny Clayton and Josh Rock will meet each other after their respective 6-3 and 6-1 wins against Niko Springer and Chris Dobey. German Martin Schindler came through a deciding leg to beat Wessel Nijman 6-5 and set up a match against Jermaine Wattimena, who was a 6-3 winner against England's Ryan Joyce.
Earlier, it was announced that Humphries had withdrawn from the European Championship.
