The new guard take charge: Littler and Rock through in the World Grand Prix

Day two of the PDC World Grand Prix saw Luke Littler enter the fray winning first match of the tournament with a sublime 2-0 win against World Youth Champion Gian van Veen in Leicester.

The pair are set do to battle on numerous occasions over the next few years, and their meeting in the Midlands didn’t disappoint as they produced magic in a last 32 masterclass.

Littler edged the first set, as a 151 finish followed by an 86 kill saw him move ahead. ‘The Nuke’ then upped the gears in set two, a 12-darter taking him a leg away from victory, which was confirmed with a fine 144 checkout as he ended with a 105.58 average.

Van Veen clocked a tournament-record 106.57 in defeat, in what was a fantastic advert for the sport.

THE PDC WORLD GRAND PRIX: Stats, history and the WGP story on dartsdatabase.co.uk

For some time now PDC darts has been a three way generational battle. The old guard had presented on the opening night as Gary Anderson had overcome Raymond van Barneveld. Tuesday however saw different generations shine.

Defending Champion Mike De Decker will oppose Littler in round two, as the Belgian recovered from a slow start to take a 2-1 win against Peter Wright.

The Belgian averaged over 93, and his meeting with the World Champion on Thursday is set to be a cracker.

Several former Grand Prix Champions were in action, and six-time former winner Michael van Gerwen bit the dust, losing out 2-0 to Dirk van Duijvenbode.

‘The Green Machine’, who lost in round one without winning a leg in 2024, lost the first five against ‘The Titan’, and although he rallied, it wasn’t enough, and van Duijvenbode advanced.

PDC / Adam Winfield

2020 Grand Prix king Gerwyn Price (above) was made to work by Ryan Searle, but the Welshman found some scoring power in the middle of the contest to prevail 2-1.

2021 Champion Jonny Clayton had lost six of his last seven matches against Andrew Gilding, but the Welshman advanced in a whitewash win against ‘Goldfinger’.

2017 winner Daryl Gurney was in equally ruthless form, pinning six from nine finishing doubles and dropping just one leg in a 2-0 success against Ross Smith.

Luke Woodhouse kicked off the evening’s action, and he came through a final-leg thriller against Damon Heta.

Woodhouse pounced on Heta’s struggles on the starting doubles in the first set, taking out 113 in the opening leg on the way to winning the set without reply. Heta roared back to some tune, with finishes of 150 and 93 restoring parity for the Aussie in another whitewash set, but the dominance ended, with the last set going all the way. There, Woodhouse took seven darts to get started but back-to-back 180s and a 90 finish saw ‘Woody’ home.

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So you might say that the darting 'Middults' also had a strong evening, but it was the 'Latest Generation' who truly stood out and it was not only the stellar Littler versus Van Veen encounter as Josh Rock was the final player confirmed for the last 16 although he was taken to the limit by Ryan Joyce, before finding a 108 finish in the last leg to book a second-round meeting with Gerwyn Price.

Round two commences on Wednesday evening, with four matches to look forward to.

2025 BOYLE Sports World Grand Prix
 

Tuesday October 7
8x Round One matches

Luke Woodhouse 2-1 Damon Heta (3-0, 0-3, 3-2)
Daryl Gurney 2-0 Ross Smith (3-0, 3-1)
Jonny Clayton 2-0 Andrew Gilding (3-1, 3-2)
Gerwyn Price 2-1 Ryan Searle (0-3, 3-2, 3-1)
Luke Littler 2-0 Gian van Veen (3-2, 3-0)
Dirk van Duijvenbode 2-0 Michael van Gerwen (3-0, 3-2)
Mike De Decker 2-1 Peter Wright (1-3, 3-1, 3-1)
Josh Rock 2-1 Ryan Joyce (1-3, 3-1, 3-2)

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