Shock defeat for Littler in first round of EuroTour event

LUKE Littler made a shock first-round exit at the Baltic Sea Open in Germany last night as he lost 6-3 to world number 97 Wessel Nijman.

Warrington’s Littler was way below his best in his bid for a third European Tour title of the year at the Wunderino Arena against Dutchman Nijman, who had previously won five of his six Development Tour matches against the former Padgate Academy student in 2023.

The defeat in Kiel - only his second in 15 EuroTour matches - came 24 hours after he had fallen at the semi-final stage of Night 15 of the Premier League thanks to a 6-1 defeat to Michael Van Gerwen, who will face Nijman in the second round today.

The 17-year-old will now refocus for the final night of the Premier League’s league phase in Sheffield on Thursday, where he needs only to beat bottom-placed Peter Wright in the quarters to secure top spot.

Littler was not the only Premier League start to suffer defeat as Nathan Aspinall was dumped out 6-2 by Ritchie Edhouse, who averaged 106.46.

On a day of shocks, world number nine Dimitri van den Bergh also made an early exit, losing 6-3 to Daryl Gurney.

German number one Martin Schindler bowed out as he was beaten 6-3 by Belgian world number 40 Mike de Decker and another home favourite, Gabriel Clemens, lost a last-leg decider to Andy Baetens.

Veteran Raymond van Barneveld cruised to a 6-1 win against Daniel Larsson, while James Wade and Jermaine Wattimena were among those to progress.