LUKE Littler is a step closer to winning the World Darts Championship.

Having beaten his good friend Nathan Aspinall 5-2 in last night's quarter-finals, the Warringtonian teenager is still on course to go one better than last year and lift the Sid Waddell Trophy.

READ MORE > Our full report on Luke Littler's victory over Nathan Aspinall

RECAP > Littler's 5-2 victory over his good friend "The Asp" as it happened

Standing in his way is another "local rival" in the shape of St Helens thrower Stephen Bunting, who beat two-time world champion Peter Wright 5-2 in the night's other last-eight tie.

Littler and Bunting will be the second semi-final to be played on tonight, with the match expected to start at around 9.15pm.

READ MORE > What both Luke Littler and Stephen Bunting have had to say about tonight's semi-final

Chris Dobey will take on Michael Van Gerwen to kick off the session, which starts at a slightly later time of 7.45pm.

The two winners will contest the final tomorrow evening.

The Paddy Power World Darts Championship is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK.

2024/25 PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINALS AND FINAL SCHEDULE:

Thursday January 2:

Evening Session (1930 GMT):

Chris Dobey vs Michael Van Gerwen - 7.45pm

Stephen Bunting vs Luke Littler - 9.15pm

Friday January 3 (2000 GMT):

Final

PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP FACTS CHECK:

The Paddy Power World Darts Championship will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK

32nd staging of the World Darts Championship

96 players from around the globe competing for the coveted Sid Waddell Trophy

14 debutants and 28 countries represented in the £2.5 million showpiece

No1 seed Humphries aims to emulate Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson by winning back-to-back titles.

PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE FUND:

Winner - £500,000

Runner-Up - £200,000

Semi-Finalists - £100,000

Quarter-Finalists - £50,000

Fourth Round - £35,000

Third Round - £25,000

Second Round - £15,000

First Round - £7,500

Total - £2,500,000

Players will also be competing for the Ballon d’Art trophy – created by title sponsor Paddy Power for the player who hits the most 180s during the event.

The award - won by Humphries last year - is an addition to The BIGGER 180 Campaign, which will again see Paddy Power donate £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every maximum scored during the 2024/25 World Darts Championship.

In addition, a £180,000 bonus will be paid out for every nine-darter achieved during the tournament, to be split equally with £60,000 each to Prostate Cancer UK, the player who hits the perfect leg and one lucky fan in the crowd.

PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT:

First Round - Best of five sets

Second Round - Best of five sets

Third Round - Best of seven sets

Fourth Round - Best of seven sets

Quarter-Finals - Best of nine sets

Semi-Finals - Best of 11 sets

Final - Best of 13 sets

TIE-BREAKS:

From the Second Round onwards, there will be a tie-break rule employed in all matches; where a deciding set must be won by two clear legs. If the score in the final set reaches 5-5 then a sudden-death leg will be played.

There would be no throw for the bull in any sudden-death legs.

2024/25 PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS:

First round:

Thibault Tricole 3 Joe Comito 1

Jermaine Wattimena 3 Stefan Bellmont 0

Kim Huybrechts 1 Keane Barry 3

Wesley Plaisier 3 Ryusei Azemoto 2

Luke Woodhouse 3 Lourence Ilagan 0

Alan Soutar 1 Kai Gotthardt 3

Niels Zonneveld 1 Robert Owen 3

Connor Scutt 3 Ben Robb 0

Cameron Menzies 1 Leonard Gates 3

James Hurrell 3 Jim Long 0

Kevin Doets 3 Noa-Lynn van Leuven 0

Ryan Joyce 3 Darius Labanauskas 1

Jeffrey de Graaf 3 Rashad Sweeting 1

Ricardo Pietreczko 3 Xiaochen Zong 0

Ryan Meikle 3 Fallon Sherrock 2

Jim Williams 2 Paolo Nebrida 3

Madars Razma 3 Christian Kist (9 darter) 1

Ricky Evans 3 Gordon Mathers 2

Chris Landman 1 Lok Yin Lee 3

Callan Rydz 3 Romeo Grbavac 0

Martin Lukeman 3 Nitin Kumar 1

Nick Kenny 3 Stowe Buntz 0

Mensur Suljovic 2 Matt Campbell 3

Scott Williams 3 Niko Springer 1

Stephen Burton 0 Alexander Merkx 3

Wessel Nijman 3 Cameron Carolissen 2

Ian White bye v Sandro Eric Sosing

Mickey Mansell 3 Tomoya Goto 1

Florian Hempel 3 Jeffrey De Zwaan 1

William O’Connor 1 Dylan Slevin 3

Karel Sedlacek 0 Rhys Griffin 3

Second round:

Luke Humphries 3 Thibault Tricole 0

James Wade 0 Jermaine Wattimena 3

Gerwyn Price 3 Keane Barry 0

Mike De Decker 1 Luke Woodhouse 3

Peter Wright 3 Wesley Plaisier 1

Nathan Aspinall 3 Leonard Gates 1

Gabriel Clemens 1 Robert Owen 3

Michael Smith 2 Kevin Doets 3

Stephen Bunting 3 Kai Gotthardt 1

Michael van Gerwen 3 James Hurrell 0

Brendan Dolan 3 Lok Yin Lee 0

Chris Dobey 3 Alexander Merkx 1

Danny Noppert 1 Ryan Joyce 3

Raymond van Barneveld 1 Nick Kenny 3

Luke Littler 3 Ryan Meikle 1

Damon Heta 3 Connor Scutt 1

Ryan Searle 3 Matt Campbell 0

Dirk van Duijvenbode 1 Madars Razma 3

Joe Cullen 3 Wessel Nijman 0

Ritchie Edhouse 1 Ian White 3

Martin Schindler 0 Callan Rydz 3

Ross Smith 0 Paolo Nebrida 3

Gary Anderson 0 Jeffrey de Graaf 3

Dimitri Van den Bergh 3 Dylan Slevin 0

Krzysztof Ratajski 3 Alexis Toylo 1

Andrew Gilding 3 Martin Lukeman 1

Josh Rock 3 Rhys Griffin 0

Jonny Clayton 3 Mickey Mansell 2 (R2)

Gian van Veen 1 Ricardo Pietreczko 3

Daryl Gurney 3 Hempel/De Zwaan 2

Dave Chisnall 2 Ricky Evans 3

Rob Cross 1 Scott Williams 3

Third round:

Damon Heta (9 darter) 3 Luke Woodhouse 4

Jonny Clayton 4 Daryl Gurney 3

Stephen Bunting 4 Madars Razma 1

Gerwyn Price 4 Joe Cullen 3

Jermaine Wattimena 2 Peter Wright 4

Luke Humphries 4 Nick Kenny 0

Ryan Joyce 4 Ryan Searle 3

Scott Williams 1 Ricardo Pietreczko 4

Nathan Aspinall 4 Andrew Gilding 0

Chris Dobey 4 Josh Rock 2

Michael van Gerwen 4 Brendan Dolan 2

Luke Littler 4 Ian White 1

Jeffrey de Graaf 4 Paolo Nebrida 1

Kevin Doets 4 Krzysztof Ratajski 3

Dimitri Van den Bergh 0 Callan Rydz 4

Ricky Evans 2 Robert Owen 4

Fourth round:

Jonny Clayton 2 Gerwyn Price 4

Luke Humphries 1 Peter Wright 4

Kevin Doets 3 Chris Dobey 4

Callan Rydz 4 Robert Owen 3

Ricardo Pietreczko 0 Nathan Aspinall 4

Stephen Bunting 4 Luke Woodhouse 0

Michael van Gerwen 4 Jeffrey de Graaf 2

Luke Littler 4 Ryan Joyce 3

Quarter finals

Chris Dobey 5 Gerwyn Price 3

Michael Van Gerwen 5 Callan Rydz 3

Peter Wright 2 Stephen Bunting 5

Luke Littler 5 Nathan Aspinall 2