LUKE ‘The Nuke’ Littler’s Dutch Darts Masters hopes ended in the semi-finals.

The man who blocked his path to a second successive appearance in the Den Bosch final was St Helens rival Stephen Bunting, whom Littler defeated 6-1 in the World Darts Championship semi-finals.

For the third time in four meetings between the pair though, the thrilling contest went to a final-leg decider and last week’s Bahrain Masters winner made the throw that was in his favour count.

Warringtonian Littler will be disappointed his 107.59 average, compared to Bunting’s 99.55, proved not to be enough to see him over the line.

As in the 18-year-old's quarter-final success against Michael van Gerwen, he took control of the tie but was hauled back in.

And while ‘The Nuke’ was able to run away again against MVG, Bunting was another kettle of fish.

At the start, Bunting missed the bull for a 130 checkout and the world champion made him pay with an 11-darter to break throw in the opening leg.

And he went 2-0 in front with another 11-dart finish to put the St Helens man on the backfoot early.

Bunting pulled a leg back and Littler responded in kind, despite initially missing double 10 for a 115 finish.

Again Bunting stayed in touch by clinching the fifth leg and then he levelled the match with a 15-dart break of throw, clinically responding to a fallen dart that kept Littler at arm’s length.

‘The Nuke’ returned from the interval on fire, nailing a 180 to start but two misses on double 15 could have been costly. They were not punished and he broke throw on his next visit for 4-3.

Bunting checked out on 78 in 14 darts to respond in kind and square up matters again.

Littler was wide of the bull for a 170 finish and Bunting needed no second invitation to go ahead for the first time.

A 13-darter brought the teenager level but Bunting’s 125 checkout with a 12-darter nudged him a leg away from the win.

Littler forced the final leg decider after equalising the scores with a 14-arrow win.

But Bunting delivered when it mattered most, moving on to back-to-back World Series finals with an 11-darter as Littler waited in the wings needing 130 on a visit that never came.

In the end, Littler will look at his 43 per cent checkout success rate as being what let him down.

Littler’s scoring was explosive to start in the quarter-final against Van Gerwen – the rematch of the World Darts Championship on January 3.

He was averaging 130 for his first nine darts in legs, but his finishing was well-below par which made things harder for him than they might have been.

The world champion raced into a 3-0 lead, was pegged back to 3-3, but then he turned the tide again to run out the 6-3 victor for a fourth successive win in his meetings with the Dutch ace.

Littler ended the contest with seven 180s, an average of 94.85 compared to MVG’s 90.26, but he landed only one in four of his attempts at double.

The Nuke, whose best checkout of the night was 72, held throw in 14 darts to take the first leg.

Seven missed darts at double 10 from Littler were not punished by Van Gerwen as the teenager went 2-0 in front.

A 15-darter, despite being wayward with two more double efforts, extended the cushion for ‘The Nuke’.

MVG held his throw to get off the mark and when Littler looked like firing back he missed the bull for a 170, then further shots at double 10 and double five, allowing the Dutchman to step in and pull another game back.

All of a sudden as Van Gerwen held throw it was 3-3 and game on again.

Littler arrested the slide even after missing two more doubles as he went back in front 4-3.

A 72 checkout broke MVG to put the Warringtonian one leg away from the semi-finals.

And he comfortably held throw in 14 darts to send out the holder and make it his eighth win from 14 meetings with the Dutch legend.

Rob Cross eventually won the tournament, clinching his fifth World Series of Darts title by seeing off Bunting 8-5 in the Den Bosch final.

Cross bounced back from his first round exit in Bahrain a week earlier in style to claim the Toon Greebe Trophy, producing a string of top-class displays at De Maaspoort.

Cross followed Friday's defeat of Richard Veenstra with victory over a second Dutchman - Jermaine Wattimena - in Saturday's quarter-finals, hitting six doubles from eight attempts.

The 2018 World Champion then averaged over 100 and finished 50 per cent of his darts at double in his semi-final success against Gerwyn Price.

He then denied Bunting back-to-back World Series titles, averaging almost 102 and finishing 8/15 doubles.

Cross started the final stronger, leading 2-0 and adding 13-darters to move 3-1 and 5-2 up, only for legs of 14, 12 and 12 darts helping Bunting to draw level - as he took out 62, 94 and 130.

Cross, though, hit back strongly to regain the lead on double 18, before a brace of double eight checkouts sealed glory and a first World Series title in Europe.

"It's amazing to come here and win - it's special for me," said Cross, who was last year's US Darts Masters winner.

"I think it's about time I won in the Netherlands and I'm very grateful - the crowd were brilliant. The determination and focus I had today dragged me through.

"Stephen is a great man and he's a credit to the sport. He's done all the work today, got there and probably ran out of steam.

"To come here and win this one means so much. It's been a great weekend and I've really enjoyed it, and I love the World Series."

Focus on the PDC circuit now moves to next weekend's Winmau World Masters for the first ranking event of the new season, with the World Series of Darts returning with the Mr Vegas Nordic Darts Masters at Forum Copenhagen on June 6-7.