Luke Littler seals fantastic fourth European Tour title at the Flanders Darts Trophy
Luke Littler claimed his fourth European Tour title at the Flanders Darts Trophy in Antwerp courtesy of a thrilling last-leg win over Josh Rock on Sunday.
Littler, who began the year by retaining the Belgian Darts Open title in Wize, made it four titles from his last five competitive events as he continued his prolific run of form.
World Matchplay champion last month and back-to-back World Series event winner Down Under, Littler produced an inspired comeback from 4-1 down to deny Rock 8-7 in an epic final.
Rock, bidding for his second European Tour title, raced clear at 5-2, but only for Littler to produce a devastating burst to claim five of the next six legs.
Rock, however, stopped the rot in remarkable fashion by landing a 161 checkout to force a decider, but Littler broke throw with a timely 11-darter to seal the £30,000 top prize.
“When Josh hit the 161 checkout, it wasn’t a good feeling, but then I knew all I had to do was break the throw and win the game,” said Littler.
“Ever since I started playing darts I have always loved a last-leg decider. I back myself with or without the darts but I knew I had to go out in eleven there.
“The European tour stage, I love it. I love coming here and I’ve said for the past year now that we need a Premier League event here.
“They love me here, I love them, they wanted Josh to win for a bit in that game, but for myself I had to crawl back from 4-1 down, then I knew they’d get back on my side.
“This is it now. From now it’s back-to-back with tournaments, September and October are some of the craziest months of the calendar, I know how to deal with that and know what’s coming up.”
Following his second round whitewash of Dylan Slevin on Saturday, Littler turned on the style again by averaging 110.3 in a 6-3 victory over Ryan Searle.
The 18-year-old then held his nerve with a 79 finish to deny Damon Heta in a deciding leg in the quarter-finals, before completing a 7-1 demolition of Daryl Gurney to seal his spot in the final.
Rock began his campaign with a narrow 6-5 win over Karel Sedlacek on Saturday afternoon, before defeating in-form Stephen Bunting with another impressive 6-5 victory.
The World Cup of Darts winner – who most recently lost to Littler in an epic World Matchplay semi-final – then averaged 101 in a 6-4 victory over Luke Woodhouse in the quarter-finals, before denying James Wade of another European Tour final with a 7-5 success.
“That performance is why he is going to be number one soon and that’s why he is the World Champion,” admitted Rock.
“I’m always really hard on myself, maybe I should of been better but I’m happy with my performance, when you go to last leg decider with the World Champion you have to try and give it your all, we move on.
“It’s always a learning curve, I’m here to compete and win titles, I’m happy with my weekend!”
Wade, meanwhile, cruised through his Last 16 tie against Germany’s Leon Weber 6-2, before dumping out Dutch youngster Gian van Veen to reach his third European Tour semi-final of the year.
Daryl Gurney also progressed to the Last Four, edging past Krzysztof Ratajski in a decider before whitewashing Danny Noppert 6-0 with a 99 average.
Flanders Darts Trophy 2025 Day Three Results
Sunday August 31
Afternoon Session
Third Round
Mensur Suljovic 5-6 Luke Woodhouse
Stephen Bunting 5-6 Josh Rock
James Wade 6-2 Leon Weber
Gian van Veen 6-3 Martin Schindler
Krzysztof Ratajski 5-6 Daryl Gurney
Mario Vandenbogaerde 4-6 Danny Noppert
Damon Heta 6-4 Ryan Joyce
Luke Littler 6-3 Ryan Searle
Evening Session
Quarter-Finals
Luke Woodhouse 4-6 Josh Rock
James Wade 6-4 Gian van Veen
Daryl Gurney 6-0 Danny Noppert
Damon Heta 5-6 Luke Littler
Semi-Finals
Josh Rock 7-5 James Wade
Luke Littler 7-1 Daryl Gurney
Final
Luke Littler 8-7 Josh Rock
