Copyright birminghammail
Luke Littler's quest to become the world number one for the first time hit a stumbling block with an unexpected 10-7 defeat to James Wade at the European Championship in Dortmund. World champion Littler, who previously thrashed Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld in the opening round, would have toppled current number one Luke Humphries from his position with a victory at the tournament. However, it was 2018 European champion Wade who advanced to the quarter-finals with his first-ever career win against Littler on television. The 18 year old bounced back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead and with the scores tied at 4-4, he narrowly missed the bull when aiming for a 170-checkout, allowing Wade to edge 5-4 ahead. A 110-checkout put Wade 6-4 up, and with Littler unable to narrow the gap, the 42-year-old world number five clinched victory with a 108-finish. Humphries, aware that his number one spot was secure for now, had to dig deep against Scotland's Cameron Menzies in his second-round match before winning the decider to scrape through 10-9. Earlier on Saturday, top seed Nathan Aspinall was knocked out after a 10-7 defeat to Netherlands' number two Danny Noppert and four-time European champion Michael van Gerwen defeated world number eight Chris Dobey 10-5. Ryan Searle fell prey to impressive world youth champion Gian van Veen, who sailed into the third round with a 10-2 win, while Ryan Joyce saw off Germany's number one Martin Schindler 10-7. In other matches, home favourite Ricardo Pietreczko triumphed over 2024 runner-up Jermaine Wattimena with a score of 10-6, while the 2022 champion Ross Smith was defeated 10-6 by Daryl Gurney.
