Luke Littler's World Grand Prix title defence is over after one match. Luke Woodhouse beat him 2-1 on opening night in Leicester, Michael van Gerwen went out the same night, and Damon Heta had a dart to beat Gary Anderson before the Scot came through 2-1. Back home, Raymond Smith opened the ANZ Premier League with a 108.88 average in Canberra.
Here's how the first two nights went, what it means, and when the rest of the week is on in Melbourne.
In this update
- What happened to Luke Littler at the World Grand Prix?
- How did Damon Heta go against Gary Anderson?
- Who's through to the second round?
- Who won the first night of the ANZ Premier League?
- That's the week
What happened to Luke Littler at the World Grand Prix?
He lost 2-1 to Luke Woodhouse on Monday night, winning the first set 3-1 before Woodhouse took the next two 3-2 and 3-1. Neither player found his range on the doubles: Woodhouse averaged 82.51 and Littler 82.41, according to Darts News.
That's the double-in format doing exactly what it does. Every leg starts with a double, so a player can be well behind before scoring a point, and a best-of-three-sets match gives very little time to recover.
Woodhouse summed it up afterwards: "Luke's not a robot. He's going to have days and weeks where he's not right on it."
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Michael van Gerwen also went out on Monday night, beaten 2-1 by Ryan Joyce. Joyce took the last two sets with checkouts of 92, 110 and 118 along the way.
The standout performance came from Gerwyn Price. He beat Sebastian Bialecki 2-0 with a 101.61 average, the only 100-plus average of the opening night.
How did Damon Heta go against Gary Anderson?
Heta lost 2-1, and it was as close as that score suggests. He had Anderson on the ropes and a dart to win the match, but the Scot survived it and won five legs in a row to turn it around. Anderson now meets Niels Zonneveld in the second round.
It's a tough way to go out, and it caps a tough run of deciders. Last week he also lost 6-5 to Callan Rydz in the first round of Players Championship 29.
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Thinking about Heta's darts for yourself? Our guide, Damon Heta Darts: 5 Things To Know Before Buying The Heat's Setup, covers the barrel shapes and which weights suit which throw.
Watch: World Grand Prix highlights from Leicester.
Who's through to the second round?
All sixteen first-round matches are done. Four seeds went out, all to unseeded players: Littler, van Gerwen, Josh Rock and Chris Dobey. Three of those four losses came in a deciding set.
James Wade made hard work of it. He lost the first set to Joe Cullen, levelled, then missed six match darts in the decider before finally getting over the line 2-1.
Luke Humphries beat Dave Chisnall 2-0, but only after Chisnall missed a dart at 10 to level the second set. Gian van Veen also went through 2-0 against Dirk van Duijvenbode, and Stephen Bunting beat Andrew Gilding.
Two comebacks are worth a mention. Ross Smith lost the first set 3-0 and survived two match darts before beating Menzies, and Nathan Aspinall came from a set down against Doets, helped by a ten-darter and a 115 checkout.
Who won the first night of the ANZ Premier League?
Raymond Smith, and he did it in style. At the AIS Arena in Canberra on Saturday night he beat Brody Klinge 5-3, Mal Cuming 5-3 and New Zealand's Ben Robb 5-1 in the final.
His 108.88 average against Cuming is, according to Darts News, a new ANZ Premier League record. Smith takes the $1,000 nightly prize and the early lead in the table.
Defending champion Simon Whitlock beat Joe Comito 5-4 in the quarter-finals before Robb beat him 5-3 in the semis. The league winner collects $30,000, a spot at the PDC World Championship and a place at the Grand Slam of Darts.
Watch: Raymond Smith's record-breaking night in Canberra.
That's the week
The World Grand Prix second round is the best of five sets, and every session is an early one for us. Daylight saving starts on Sunday, so the weekend times jump.
- Second round: 4am Thursday 1 October and 4am Friday 2 October (AEST). Anderson v Zonneveld is on the Thursday night UK card.
- Quarter-finals: 4am Saturday 3 October (AEST)
- Semi-finals: 6am Sunday 4 October (AEDT)
- Final: 6am Monday 5 October (AEDT)
The ANZ Premier League moves to Adelaide for Night 2 on Saturday 3 October, then comes to Melbourne for Night 3 on Saturday 10 October. If you're local, that one's worth getting to.
Results and schedules sourced from Darts News, Darts World, Sky Sports, Shropshire Star, Flashscore and dartsnews.de.