Luke Littler launches World Championship title defence in style as Smith sees off Ashton on opening night

Luke Littler launched his World Darts Championship title defence in style with a 3-0 victory over Darius Labanauskas on opening night at Alexandra Palace.

Littler, who walked out at Ally Pally as reigning World Champion and world number one for the first time, produced a statement display with a 101 average in his whitewash win over Lithuania’s Labanauskas.

After Labanauskas had opened up with a 130 checkout on the bull, Littler edged through a last-leg decider in the opening set with a clutch 76 checkout, before winning another set-deciding shootout to double his advantage.

Labanauskas kept pace throughout the match and averaged above 95 in a valiant performance, but Littler maintained composure and took out checkouts of 124 and 120 in the final set to win in commanding fashion.

“I’m very happy with the performance,” said Littler, who will play against Mario Vandenbogaerde or David Davies in round two.

“When I woke up this morning, I was excited. It felt very special to be back.

“This was my first ever PDC tournament, so I have a lot of memories here.

“A win is a win and that’s the hardest game out of the way.”

Michael Smith, who lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy three years ago, also produced a dominant performance to thrash Lisa Ashton in straight sets and safely advance to round two.

Despite a nervy start in the opening set, the 2022/23 World Champion took out a 15-darter to hit the front after Ashton had missed a set dart at the bull in leg four.

Bully Boy then breezed through the next two sets to wrap up victory, and admitted: “I’m happy to win.

“I stepped up when I needed to so I’ll take that as a positive. To come back for the second round is amazing.

“I told myself, ‘I’ve won this tournament before’. Coming into the next game, hopefully I can step up and start the way I finished the match.”

Meanwhile, German debutant Arno Merk impressively saw off former quarter-finalist Kim Huybrechts 3-1 in the opening match of the tournament.

Merk reeled off five consecutive legs in a relentless early spell to take a commanding two-set lead, before quashing any hopes of a Huybrechts revival by sealing victory in set four.

“I’m feeling overwhelmed, I’m so happy,” said Merk, who won the PDC Europe Super League to qualify for his first PDC World Championship 14 years after appearing at Lakeside.

“I wasn’t that nervous, I don’t know why. I thought at Ally Pally I would be nervous, but I wasn’t.

“I’m so excited to play again on this stage.”

Madars Razma also advanced to round two after fending off debutant Jamai van den Herik with a hard-fought 3-1 success.

The Latvian ace won the first set which included legs of 11 and 13 darts, before closing out the match to set up a clash against either Dimitri Van den Bergh or Darren Beveridge.

World Darts Championship 2025/26 Day One Results

Thursday December 11

First Round

Kim Huybrechts 1-3 Arno Merk
Michael Smith 3-0 Lisa Ashton
Luke Littler 3-0 Darius Labanauskas
Madars Razma 3-1 Jamai van den Herik