LUKE ‘The Nuke’ Littler is through to the last 16 on his debut in the Winmau World Masters.

The 18-year-old Warringtonian blitzed Belgian qualifier Andy Baetens 3-0 inside 11 minutes in his opening match in Milton Keynes on Friday night.

Second seed Littler will face James Wade tomorrow, Saturday, for a place in the quarter-finals in the race for the £100,000 winner’s prize.

‘The Nuke’ said going into the match that fast starts are crucial in this tournament’s sets format, with each set being the best of three legs.

And riding on the wave of a pulsating reception by the sell-out crowd on his first UK appearance as world champion, he banged in two 180s as he held throw in the first leg in 11 darts.

Fans eager to see their hero Luke Littler in action (Image: Taylor Lanning/PDC)

Baetens, the 2023 Lakeside champion, checked out on 76 to complete a 13-dart hold of throw in response.

And Littler replied in kind with 13 darts to take the first set.

Littler took advantage of the 35-year-old missing two arrows at double to break throw in the opening leg of the second set.

Luke Littler, happy in his work in Milton Keynes (Image: Taylor Lanning/PDC)

And then his fourth double from four attempts completed a 77 finish for a 2-0 lead in sets.

Littler wrapped the match up in no time, holding and then breaking throw to take the third and final set 2-0.

In all, he achieved an average of 104.33 and rattled in six of his nine arrows at double.

The tournament is being shown live on ITV4 and continues with afternoon and evening sessions on Saturday.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final take place on a bumper Finals Day on Sunday.