Luke Littler has further enhanced his growing reputation with a remarkable performance to defeat Christian Kist in the PDC World Championship first round.
The 16-year-old - who was recently crowned the world youth champion - is making his debut in the tournament and has already secured a PDC Tour Card for the next two years.
However, his performance will go down as the best-ever maiden display at the Alexandra Palace as he thrashed Kist by a 3-0 scoreline, dropping just two legs in the process.
Up until the final two legs, Littler was on course to enter the top-10 World Championship averages of all time before having to settle for 106.12.
LUDICROUS FROM LITTLER 🤯
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 20, 2023
106.12 average ✅
7️⃣ x 180s
50% on the doubles 🎯
A truly ridiculous performance on debut from 16-year-old Luke Littler as he beats Christian Kist 3-0!
📺 https://t.co/f3RU9WTIoD#WCDarts | R1 pic.twitter.com/WioSlPaxYq
Astonishingly, his nine winning legs were all 15 darts or fewer as he posted a 50% checkout-rate and hit seven maximums.
Kist, a former Lakeside champion, averaged over 90 in what would have challenged many other first-round participants, but it is Littler who has set up a showdown with UK Open champion Andrew Gilding on Thursday night.
Littler's performance preceded that of Jim Williams, who overcame an out-of-sorts Peter Wright to win 3-0, with the fourth seed averaging just 83.87 after changing his darts on two occasions.
Earlier in the night, Ryan Joyce impressed as he came from behind to defeat American Alex Spellman by a 3-1 scoreline, while Richard Veenstra progressed with a 3-0 triumph over Ben Robb.
Darren Plant
