LUKE Littler will tackle his first ranking tournament as world champion in this week’s Winmau World Masters.

The Warringtonian’s Alexandra Palace victory and subsequent rise to world number two qualified him for his first tilt at the Masters, with the televised stage taking place over four days in Milton Keynes from tomorrow, Thursday.

The top 24 players from the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualified for the 32-player main event, with the world’s top 16 seeded in the draw.

Littler has been paired with Belgium’s Andy Baetens, who was one of the eight players to emerge through the preliminary rounds today.

Baetens posted a ton-topping average in his last 16 thumping of Darius Labanauskas

The first-round tie will take place during the evening session on Friday, with the winner facing either James Wade or Mike De Decker in the second round on Saturday.

The action will be shown live on ITV4.

Former Padgate Academy pupil Littler is in the same half of the draw as Michael Van Gerwen – the man he beat to be crowned world champion at Alexandra Palace earlier this month – as well as fellow 2025 Premier League entrants Nathan Aspinall and Chris Dobey among others.

The Masters, which was first introduced by the PDC in 2013, is one of the biggest PDC TV tournaments.

The event, won last year by Stephen Bunting, has now adopted the name of a tournament which was first held in 1975 and has been won by a host of darts legends, including Eric Bristow, Dennis Priestley and Phil Taylor.

Wednesday's preliminary rounds saw 126 players competing for eight places in the main event.

Jermaine Wattimena was the highest-ranked player to progress in Milton Keynes, following up straight-set wins over Nathan Girvan and Niels Zonneveld with a comeback win against Nick Kenny.

The European Championship runner-up won four of the last five legs in 14, 15, 17 and 15 darts to book his place in the main draw, where he will take on Northern Ireland's number one Josh Rock.

Wattimena's fellow Dutchman Kevin Doets also won through Wednesday's preliminary rounds, overcoming Andy Boulton, Radek Szaganski and Dylan Slevin to set up a showdown against two-time World Champion Peter Wright.

Cameron Menzies landed a stunning 106 average in his straight shoot-out with World Youth Champion Gian van Veen, and the enigmatic Scot also saw off Berry van Peer and Ricky Evans to progress to a meeting with sixth seed Dave Chisnall on Friday.

William Borland claimed the scalps of Dirk van Duijvenbode, Alan Soutar and Mickey Mansell to confirm his big-stage return, and his reward is an opening round clash with 2024 Masters champion Stephen Bunting on Thursday night.

William O’Connor dispatched Richard Veenstra in convincing style to book a tussle against fourth-seed Rob Cross.

Florian Hempel will make his Winmau World Masters debut following his straight-sets success against his fellow countryman Gabriel Clemens, having averaged 110 in his last 64 victory over Mensur Suljovic.

Elsewhere, Bradley Brooks will lock horns with five-time Masters champion Michael van Gerwen on Friday night, after winning five straight matches to seal his place in the 32-player field.

Former World Youth Champion Brooks came through the round-robin phase with battling wins over James Hurrell and Michele Turetta before celebrating a trio of 2-0 victories against Ian White, Cam Crabtree and Krzysztof Ratajski.

Top seed Daryl Gurney was dumped out by his fellow countryman Slevin in the last 32, while Van Veen averaged 106 to account for Wessel Nijman in a compelling all-Dutch affair before succumbing to Menzies.

The 2025 Winmau World Masters will be played in a set format throughout, with each set being the best of three legs - beginning with the best of five sets in the first round, which takes place on Thursday and Friday night.

The top half of the draw will play their first round ties on Thursday, with the bottom half of the draw playing on Friday.

The eventual Winmau World Masters champion will take home a £100,000 prize, with £50,000 on offer to the runner-up.

2025 Winmau World Masters Preliminary Rounds results:

Wednesday January 29, Arena MK, Milton Keynes
Last 16:
Kevin Doets 2-0 Dylan Slevin (2-0, 2-0)
Bradley Brooks 2-0 Krzysztof Ratajski (2-1, 2-1)
Andy Baetens 2-0 Darius Labanauskas (2-1, 2-1)
Florian Hempel 2-0 Gabriel Clemens (2-1, 2-1)
William Borland 2-1 Mickey Mansell (1-2, 2-1, 2-1)
Jermaine Wattimena 2-1 Nick Kenny (1-2, 2-1, 2-0)
Cameron Menzies 2-0 Gian van Veen (2-1, 2-0)
William O'Connor 2-0 Richard Veenstra (2-0, 2-1)

2025 Winmau World Masters schedule:

Thursday January 30 (1900 GMT)
First Round x8
Josh Rock v Jermaine Wattimena
Damon Heta v Ross Smith
Rob Cross v William O’Connor
Gerwyn Price v Florian Hempel
Peter Wright v Kevin Doets
Luke Humphries v Joe Cullen
Stephen Bunting v William Borland
Danny Noppert v Michael Smith

Friday January 31 (1900 GMT)
First Round x8
James Wade v Mike De Decker
Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies
Jonny Clayton v Martin Schindler
Nathan Aspinall v Andrew Gilding
Chris Dobey v Ryan Searle
Luke Littler v Andy Baetens
Michael van Gerwen v Bradley Brooks
Gary Anderson v Dimitri Van den Bergh

Saturday February 1
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
Second Round x4

Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Second Round x4

Sunday February 2
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals
Final

2025 Winmau World Masters format:

First Round - Best of five sets, best of three legs per set
Second Round - Best of seven sets, best of three legs per set
Quarter-Finals - Best of seven sets, best of three legs per set
Semi-Finals - Best of nine sets, best of three legs per set
Final - Best of 11 sets, best of three legs per set