Rotterdam didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for Luke Littler. The world number one walked onto the 11th night of action and, from the start, Dutch fans made their feelings pretty clear—jeers and boos that followed him all night.
It wasn’t random hostility, either. Misryoum newsroom reported the boos were tied to a spat with Dutchman Gian van Veen in Manchester two weeks ago, and after that, Littler never really seemed to get a clean breath from the crowd. He tried to stay sharp and, to be fair, he looked determined to keep his cool—at least early on.
Littler opened with a 6-2 win over Gerwyn Price, controlling the tempo and shutting down his opponent’s chances. Even so, the atmosphere stayed loud in the worst way. After finishing the contest on a 124 checkout, Littler shared that he expected it—“Exactly what I expected, the boos and whistles, but I knew as soon as I got on stage I could do my job.” There was this specific moment too, the kind you can almost picture: the stage lights, the crowd noise, and then that quick, fist-pump kind of release after he’d finally closed it out.
What should have been a reset—maybe even a rematch with Van Veen—didn’t come to pass. Luke Humphries found form instead, and his semi-final against Littler turned into a proper test. Littler responded to the crowd with a few gestures and, for a spell, it seemed to work, nudging momentum toward him. But it didn’t last. A 5-2 lead slipped away and Humphries eventually finished the job 6-2. Still, Littler wasn’t finished yet that night, because Clayton’s run to the final kept stacking up too.
Clayton’s path started with a 6-2 win over Michael van Gerwen, which felt like a statement—blank night energy for the home stars. Then came a closer moment: Clayton battled to a 6-5 win against Josh Rock. That set up what everyone wanted to see, a final between the season’s top two. And Misryoum editorial desk noted Littler’s early response was explosive.
The final began like a warning shot. Littler stormed out with a 180 in an 11-dart leg and followed it with a break of throw. It looked like he might push for a quick 3-0 lead. But he didn’t. Clayton steadied things from there, grew into the gaps, and eventually took it 6-4—meaning the Welshman sits five points clear at the top of the table. After the match, Clayton sounded half-relieved, half-amused by the pressure
and timing. “I don’t know what happened there,” Clayton said. “I had to do something special because it is my 20th anniversary tonight and I did forget so maybe this makes it all right. I started out slow but, the chances, you’ve got to take, and I’ve taken them again tonight, and that’s all that counts. Luke’s an amazing darts player. But this old dog has got some life in him yet.”
And honestly, that “old dog” line kind of sums it up. Littler had talent, crowds can’t be bought, and Clayton… well, he kept finding the right moments. The boos will get remembered in Rotterdam, but what lingers more might be how quickly a final can flip once someone stops missing.
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