Luke Littler one win from epic ten-year first as he recovers from X-rated outburst to reach third PDC World Championship final

Luke Littler is so close to making history, he can almost taste it.

The 18-year-old booked his spot in a third-consecutive World Darts Championship final thanks to a dominant 6-1 victory over crowd favourite Ryan Searle.

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Littler, the defending champion, is now just one win from being the first man to retain the Sid Waddell trophy since Gary Anderson did so in 2015 and 2016.

And if Littler can do that, he will also be the first to take home the first-ever £1million prize on offer for winning this year’s edition of the tournament.

Although the scoreline reflected a display of darting dominance from ‘The Nuke’, he did not have it all his own way.

Littler went behind for the first time across the entire tournament when Searle took the first set and his frustration was evident.

As the teen walked off the stage, Sky Sports cameras caught him mouthing what appeared to be some words of anger.

Having dropped the first set 3-2, Littler looked up and seemingly mouthed: “F****** s***.”

It was far from the ideal start for Littler, even though he boasted the superior average in the first set with 105.00 compared to Searle’s 94.50

However, ‘Heavy Metal’ proved superior on the outer ring as he landed three of his four doubles, while Littler managed just two checkouts from five attempts.

But whatever Littler said to himself in the break between the first and second sets, it paid dividends as it largely become one-way traffic.

‘The Nuke’ wasted no time in getting even against Searle, winning the second set 3-1.

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Once again, the teenage sensation posted a triple-figure average while Searle could only counter with one of 90.62.

Yet where Littler fell short in the first set on the doubles, he more than made up for it in the second as he nailed three out of four checkouts.

Although Searle admirably held his own in the third set to make it 2-2 in legs, he could not seize upon Littler missing a set dart as he misfired on one of his own.

Littler happily took advantage of Searle’s wayward dart, pinning double 20 to secure a 2-1 lead in sets.

The fourth set was an exercise in dominance from Littler as he asserted his authority on the contest and dealt Searle an unfamiliar hand given ‘Heavy Metal’ had never been behind at this year’s World Championship.

His 2-1 lead became 3-1 in the blink of an eye, aided by a red-hot average of 110.0.

Searle didn’t even have an opportunity at a solitary double, such was the teen’s brilliance in the fourth set.

Unfortunately for Searle, the onslaught showed no signs of slowing down as he once again failed to win a single leg in the fifth set, despite having four attempts at a double.

Littler continued to blow Searle away and came close to two nine-darters, but misfired on the sixth and seventh darts during the attempts as the Ally Pally crowd was forced to wait once more for the first of the tournament.

Despite being down 5-1, Searle showed signs of life in the seventh set and gave the fans something to cheer about when he took out a 170 checkout, better known as the big fish.

Yet Littler slammed the door shut on any discussion of the most miraculous of comebacks to advance into the final.

Luke Litter v Ryan Searle in numbers