Dirk van Duijvenbode dumps out Gary Anderson to reach World Matchplay semi-finals as Littler thrashes Rock
Dirk van Duijvenbode booked his place in a maiden World Matchplay semi-final following a thrilling win over Gary Anderson on Thursday, as Luke Littler blitzed past Josh Rock.
Littler and Van Duijvenbode will collide in the semi-finals at the Winter Gardens on Saturday after sealing their progress in contrasting fashion.
Van Duijvenbode survived a magnificent Gary Anderson fightback to progress to the Last Four with a 16-13 triumph.
The Dutchman led from the outset, charging into a 4-1 lead courtesy of a 107 checkout, which then progressed into an 8-4 advantage.
After a brief rally from the 2018 champion, Van Duijvenbode took six legs straight to lead 14-6, before taking out 86 to go one away from a landmark win.
Anderson then threatened a remarkable comeback, reeling off six consecutive legs – including a 154 checkout – to reduce the deficit to 15-13, before Van Duijvenbode closed out the contest with a 13-darter to crush the Scot’s hopes.
“This feeling is very nice! I’m very happy,” said Van Duijvenbode, who averaged 101 in victory.
“Gary never gives up. I’ve never seen him giving up, and when he’s hitting his trebles, he is one of the very best in the world.
“At some point I felt nerves in my stomach, and my boy [his son] always says he has a pain in his stomach when I go away to tournaments, because he doesn’t want me to go away.
“I felt that pain in my stomach, so when I was playing really well before the last session, I thought: ‘I have this stomach pain, he has this stomach pain when I leave, so I can’t let him down now.’”
Littler, meanwhile, produced his third consecutive average in excess of 109 to breeze into a second successive semi-final at the Empress Ballroom.
The defending champion crashed in a staggering 17 maximums and defied a 101.2 average from Rock to emphatically prevail 16-7.
Though Rock held his own to remain on level terms at five apiece at the second interval, the reigning World Champion romped clear, rattling off seven unanswered legs to coast 12-5 in front.
After a fourth ton-plus finish of the contest to lead 13-6, the world number one claimed three of the next four legs to ease through with a 109.6 average and 53 per cent on the doubles.
“That’s another brilliant game for myself,” said Littler.
“I’ve gone 109, 113, 109 [for averages] again, so I’ve just got to keep it going, but fair play to Josh, he gave me a really good game there.
“At the minute, I feel very good. Everything is going to plan. I can afford to miss a few doubles because the scoring is there.
“As long as I’m playing well, I think I’ll give it a really good go. Next game we will try and get better than a 109 average.
“I think I’ve got to get ahead of Dirk early on. I’ve just got to get into that lead, put him under pressure and make him start chasing.”
World Matchplay 2026 Day Six Results
Thursday July 23
Quarter-Finals
Dirk van Duijvenbode 16-13 Gary Anderson
Luke Littler 16-7 Josh Rock
