Luke Littler beats Michael van Gerwen 8-5 to win Bahrain Darts Masters on World Series debut
Littler reached final with 7-3 win over Gerwyn Price, Van Gerwen beat Michael Smith 7-6
Teenager threw nine-darter in 6-3 quarter-final win over Nathan Aspinall
Price knocked out world champion Luke Humphries 6-4
Smith defeated Peter Wright 6-1 in quarters, Van Gerwen won 6-4 against Rob Cross
Quarters best of 11 legs, semis best of 13 and final best of 15
Humphries 1-0 Price
The first 180 of the night comes via the arrows of the world champ, who cruises to a hold of throw in a 14-dart opening leg.
Decent atmos at the Bahrain International Circuit - it's no Ally Pally but a nice buzz nonetheless.
Humphries v Price
Always love the entrance music battles.
'Iceman' Gerwyn Price's 'Ice, Ice Baby' against 'Cool Hand' Luke Humphries' far more laidback 'Cake By The Ocean'.
Humphries v Price
First up is world champion and world number one Luke Humphries facing a man who has held both of those accolades in the not-too-distant past, Welsh rugby-player-turned-darts-thrower Gerwyn Price.
England's Humphries marched into the last eight with a 6-0 thrashing of Bahraini player Abdulla Saeed, while Price was pushed much harder by the Philippines' Reynaldo Rivera before progressing 6-4.
Humphries' win was a 20th consecutive victory for a man who has lifted four televised titles in the space of five events and won the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship finals last year.
Price, meanwhile, did not win a major singles trophy last year, losing in several finals - including here in Bahrain to Michael Smith and at the Grand Prix to his opponent tonight, 'Cool Hand Luke'.
Image source, PDCPeter Wright, Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith were all taken to deciding legs by impressive Asian tour opposition on the opening night of the Bahrain Masters on Thursday.
Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross and Luke Littler survived scares at stages too - but none of the underdogs were quite able to get over the line.
Read a full report of Thursday's action here.
Image source, PDCThe PDC invites eight of its top stars to make up half of the field and face eight top Asian players – whose spots are earned by either ranking or a qualification event.
The tournament lasts two days with the quarter-finals (best of 11 legs), semi-finals (best of 13 legs) and final (best of 15 legs) all taking place today (Friday), with the champion pocketing £20,000.
From the PDC, Luke Littler is joined by world champion Luke Humphries, ex-world kingpins Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross and Peter Wright, plus World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall.
The PDC players were kept apart in yesterday's opening round, each facing an Asian opponent - and all eight PDC stars came through, although not without some real scares.
Image source, PDCThe Bahrain Masters is one of the PDC’s World Series of Darts invitational events which takes the sport and its top players all over the globe.
Last year, for example, there were also events in Poland, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United States and Denmark.
The 2023 Bahrain Masters was the first staging of this particular event, with then world champion Michael Smith lifting the inaugural title.
The tournament takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit, which is also home to F1's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Image source, PDCBahrain Masters
Here's what we've got lined up for you over the next few hours, then, as the PDC's best do battle.
Quarter-finals (best of 11 legs, 1615 GMT start, approx):
Semi-finals (best of 13 legs, 1815 GMT start, approx)
Final (best of 15 legs, 1935 GMT start, approx)
We're down to the final eight in the Bahrain Masters - and what an eight it is, with the creme de la creme of the PDC battling it out for supremacy at the first World Series of Darts event of 2024.
On the oche this afternoon and evening, the tournament will be played to a finish through the quarter-finals, semis and final at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The quarter-finals feature not one, not two, but THREE titanic tungsten tussles between current or former world champions.
And the other one? Well it involves a 16-year-old wonderkid you might just have heard a little about recently...
Image source, PDC