Cross sets up Littler tie, Anderson wins thriller

1 week ago7 min read

The Alexandra Palace stage was set for a classic Sunday of darting drama, and it delivered in spades, blending the clinical with the heart-stopping as the PDC World Championship’s last-16 picture began to crystallize. In a display of ruthless efficiency that would make any football manager envious of such a clean sheet, 2018 champion Rob Cross, seeded 17th, dismantled Australia’s 16th seed Damon Heta with a commanding 4-0 victory.Cross, whose 2018 triumph over the great Phil Taylor remains one of the sport’s great underdog stories, was in imperious form, barely giving Heta a sniff to set up a blockbuster fourth-round clash with the teenage defending champion, Luke Littler. It’s a tie dripping with narrative—the seasoned former king against the prodigious prince—and one that promises fireworks, a bit like a Champions League final where past and future collide on the oche.Yet, the afternoon’s true epic was authored by the ageless Gary Anderson, a two-time champion whose last back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016 feel a lifetime ago in darts’ rapidly evolving landscape. The 55-year-old Scot, seeded 14th, engaged in a ferocious, seven-set thriller against the relentless Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena, a match that had all the statistical brilliance and nerve-shredding tension of a cup final penalty shootout.Anderson roared to a 3-1 lead, producing a staggering 121 average in the third set—a number that in most matches would be a knockout blow—but the drama was only beginning. In a twist reminiscent of a striker missing an open goal, ‘The Flying Scotsman’ squandered three match darts in the fourth set, twice missing double eight, allowing Wattimena to storm back and force a decider.The final set was pure theatre: Anderson launched into a potential nine-darter, hitting eight perfect darts before his arrow strayed high on double 12, a moment that brought the Ally Pally crowd to a collective gasp. He eventually sealed a 5-3 set win, closing out a match where he averaged 102.24 (the eighth-highest of the tournament so far) but with a checkout percentage of just 37. 5%, a stat that tells the story of his late wobbles.“It’s no good for my age. It’s hard, especially with Jermaine on you.What a game,” a breathless Anderson told Sky Sports afterwards, his comment echoing the weary pride of a veteran athlete pushing his limits. “I bottled the nine-darter, like I bottled a lot of doubles.I was getting excited, I don’t often do that up there. But I got it done.” This victory keeps alive Anderson’s quest to become the oldest World Champion in PDC history, a feat that would be the equivalent of a 40-year-old footballer winning the Ballon d’Or, defying the sport’s increasing athleticism and youth movement. Elsewhere, 20th seed Ryan Searle booked his first last-16 spot since 2021 with a solid 4-0 win over Germany’s Martin Schindler, proving that consistency can be as lethal as flashy averages.

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#PDC World Championship

#Rob Cross

#Luke Littler

#Gary Anderson

#Jermaine Wattimena

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