Darts

Winmau World Masters: Luke Littler makes regaining Premier League title his next goal after earning new PDC major title

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By Admin
Sports Journalist
Winmau World Masters: Luke Littler makes regaining Premier League title his next goal after earning new PDC major title

Luke Littler has set regaining the Premier League as his next big goal after continuing his PDC dominance by claiming a maiden Winmau World Masters title in Milton Keynes.

The world No 1 followed and winning the inaugural by scooping the £100,000 top prize at Arena MK, his third title in a month.

Littler thrashed Josh Rock in straight sets in the quarter-finals and survived a match dart to defeat Gerwyn Price in a final-leg decider, before .

The Nuke will play all three of those in this season's Premier League, which gets under way in Newcastle on Thursday - live on Your Site, while the latest success leaves him just a European Championship victory away from having won every PDC ranked major title.

Littler will have the opportunity to claim his elusive major in Dortmund this October, but first wants to focus on regaining the Premier League title after last year's runner-up finish to Humphries.

"Obviously it [Winmau World Masters win] means a lot and to pull myself from 5-4 down to win 6-5 means everything," Littler said in his victory press conference. "It's another one ticked off now.

"We can focus on the European Tour and the World Cup [of Darts] when it comes to that time, but I'm looking forward to the Premier League now."

Littler added: "That [European Championship] is obviously the main goal for this year, but obviously another goal is to go and get the Premier League trophy back.

"I'm looking forward to the European Tours as well. The one in Belgium I've won back-to-back, so obviously want to go and do the hat-trick there. But we can't look too far ahead - we can only look at next week for the Premier League."

Littler's third consecutive TV final win over Humphries, following on from the World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts last season, moves him tied-third in the all-time standings on 11 PDC major wins alongside James Wade.

He only trails Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor, despite still being a teenager, although played down .

"I didn't hear him [Humphries] say that," Littler insisted, "No, no one will ever be [better than Phil Taylor]. I won't be the greatest unless I do win more than what Phil won."

Humphries despatched Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen in straight sets before narrowly falling short in his title defence to Littler, although saw positives in his game ahead of his bid for back-to-back Premier League victories.

"It's exciting because I can go away this weekend and think my game is in a good place again," Humphries told ITV. "A little one per cent on top of what I've already done this week could be detrimental to challenging Luke a bit more.

"He's got to watch his back. I'm feeling really good about my game. Of course I'm gutted not to win it but you do take the positives. it's been a great tournament for me.

"I proved again why I am the second-best player in the world. I know it's not an achievement, but I proved that today and this week. I'm going to try and be the best, but it's going to be hard, trust me."

On his rivalry with Humphries, Littler said: "Luke [Humphries] should go off stage there happy with his own performance. I just got the better of him in that last set there. Luke will bounce back. The Premier League is coming up and you're going to see performances week in, week out from all of us.

"We always play well against each other. The pace and the rhythm of the game suits us both and that's why you see the best out of us."

Premier League Darts is back for a new season on Thursday, live on Your Site, with Newcastle hosting the opening night of 17-week schedule in venues across the UK, Ireland and Europe.

The opening night sees Littler take on Gian Van Veen - in a repeat of the World Darts Championship final, with Jonny Clayton or Rock awaiting the winner, while Humphries plays fellow former world champion Price and Michael Van Gerwen goes up against Stephen Bunting.

Your Site remains the home of the Premier League in 2026, with every night exclusively live along with the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and more. .

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