Luke Littler and Gian van Veen set for world final rematch at Saudi Masters

Luke Littler will face Gian van Veen in a rematch of their PDC World Championship final after the pair breezed into the quarter-finals of the inaugural Saudi Arabia Masters.

Littler, who turns 19 on Wednesday, was pitted against the evergreen 71-year-old Paul Lim for the second week in a row and, having beaten him 6-1 in Bahrain, the teenager repeated the dose in Riyadh.

The two-time world champion raced out of the traps with back-to-back 14-dart legs and did not have to be at his best to see off Lim, who claimed the fifth leg with a 96 checkout to stave off a whitewash.

An average of 89.33 without a single 180 was still enough for Littler, who will next take on Van Veen after thrashing the Dutchman two weeks ago 7-1 at Alexandra Palace.

“I definitely felt good up there and I can’t wait to be back tomorrow,” Littler told ITV4 on Monday evening. “It would mean everything (to win this title). There can only be one winner and hopefully I can win it tomorrow.”

Van Veen has had a breakout past few months, including winning the European Championship in October before reaching the World Championship showpiece, beating Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson en route.

On the prospect of facing Littler again, Van Veen said after brushing aside Japan’s Motomu Sakai 6-2: “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow but I’m first going to enjoy this win and then tomorrow, hopefully revenge.”

Gerwyn Price whitewashed Alexis Toylo to set up a showdown against Humphries, who was similarly untroubled in a 6-2 victory over Ryusei Azemoto.

Michael van Gerwen, Stephen Bunting and Nathan Aspinall all recorded 6-1 wins over unheralded opponents, with Danny Noppert the only major casualty following a 6-3 defeat by Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung.