Michael van Gerwen overcame Beau Greaves in a thriller as reigning champion Luke Littler opened his Grand Slam of Darts title defence with a victory.
Three-time world champion Van Gerwen seemed to be cruising to a win at 4-2 in Wolverhampton, just for 21-year-old Greaves to win back-to-back legs to take the match to a decider.
Doncaster’s Greaves had three darts to take out 52 for victory however couldn’t end, earlier than Van Gerwen noticed out the match.
Greaves, who beat Littler in October to develop into the primary lady to achieve the World Youth Championship last, should now beat former champion Gary Anderson on Sunday to remain within the competitors.
It was smoother crusing for Littler, 18, as he continued his 100% document on the event with a 5-1 win towards Karel Sedlacek.
The world quantity two, a winner on his debut in 2024, was annoyed by dropping a single leg.
“I used to be clearly on the lookout for the whitewash,” stated Littler.
“I simply thought to myself, once I misplaced the bull, you have to get off to a fast begin. Anybody has to – it is solely first to 5. That is what I’ve carried out. However yeah, not one of the best that I dropped the leg.”
Littler is aiming to take Luke Humphries’ spot on the high of the rankings by the 12 months’s finish, however the world primary made an emphatic begin to his bid for a second Grand Slam of Darts title as he breezed previous Alex Spellman.
The 30-year-old hit two maximums as he accomplished a simple 5-0 victory, serving to him to the highest of Group A after Michael Smith’s 5-3 win towards Nathan Aspinall.
Elsewhere, Gerwyn Value was overwhelmed by Rickey Evans, Wessel Nijman overcame Josh Rock and Stefan Bellmont beat James Wade.
All 32 gamers featured on the opening day of the round-robin group stage in Wolverhampton, with the day evenly cut up between two classes.
