Littler 'digs deep' to go back-to-back at UK Open

Luke Littler claimed a second straight UK Open title by beating James Wade 11-7 in the final in Minehead.

“Luke Littler claimed a second straight UK Open title by beating James Wade 11-7 in the final in Minehead”

BBC

Littler had thrashed Wade 11-2 in the 2025 decider.

BBC

He again got the better of his fellow Englishman in a much closer contest and became the first player since Michael van Gerwen in 2015 and 2016 to win the 'FA Cup of darts' back-to-back.

The victory was Littler's 12th major title.

The 19-year-old world champion raced 3-0 ahead in the best-of-21-legs final but was pegged back to 3-3 by Wade.

Littler then won three legs to go ahead before Wade drew level at 6-6.

BBC

At that stage Wade was averaging just 88 while Littler was at a shade over 100.

Some slack finishing by Littler allowed Wade to stay in the contest.

From 7-7 Littler reeled off four straight legs to seal an 11-7 win.

Littler finished with an average of 99.58 and a checkout percentage of 35.48, and took home the £120,000 prize money.

Littler told ITV4: "It feels amazing [to go back-to-back]... I've dug deep throughout the tournament and I've come out with a win. I wasn't happy with myself through the early rounds but, as a player, you've got to dig deep."

Luke Littler had been pushed all the way in his semi-final by Northern Ireland's Josh Rock, with the semi-final result 11-9 to Littler.

“Luke Littler claimed a second straight UK Open title by beating James Wade 11-7 in the final in Minehead”

BBC

Rock hit just one of his first 17 darts at double and fell 5-1 behind before mounting a comeback during the match.

James Wade beat Gerwyn Price 11-8 in the other semi-final, averaging 105.53 to Price's 101.39.

The article also lists the quarter-final results.

Quarter-final results included Luke Littler 10-6 Danny Noppert and James Wade 10-9 Rob Cross.