Luke Litter celebrated his fourth European Tour title in Antwerp on Sunday, dispatching Josh Rock 8-7 to triumph in the Blåkläder Flanders Darts Trophy.
Littler – a winner already in Belgium this year on the European Tour – continued his terrific form at the Antwerp Xpo to clinch his fifth ranking title of the campaign.
The Englishman was dominant on his first stage appearance since the World Matchplay in July, as he produced a string of dominant displays in Antwerp to add another title to his illustrious haul.
Rock got off to the perfect start in the final, as the World Cup champion led the World Champion 4-1 in Sunday’s showpiece, but Littler would go on to win five out of the next six legs which took him to the brink of an emphatic victory.
Rock landed another brilliant bull finish to stop the rot, converting a 161 skin-saver in leg fourteen to preserve his slender hopes, only for Littler to wrap up proceedings via an 11-dart-leg moments later.
“I think I started off okay, I wasn’t the quickest away, my cover shooting, my doubles, they all went well!
“When Josh [Rock] hit the 161 checkout, it wasn’t a good feeling, but then I knew all I had to do was break the throw and win the game.
“Ever since I started playing darts, I have always loved a last-leg decider. I back myself with or without the darts, but I knew I had to go out in eleven there.”
Littler has only played eleven European Tour events since breaking onto the scene at the start of 2024, but the 18-year-old has already won four of these events, three of them coming in Belgium.
“The European tour stage, I love it. I love coming here [Belgium] and I’ve said for the past year now that we need a Premier League event here.
“They love me here, I love them, they wanted Josh to win for a bit in that game, but for myself I had to crawl back from 4-1 down, then I knew they’d get back on my side.
“This is it now. From now it’s back-to-back with tournaments, September and October are some of the craziest months of the calendar, I know how to deal with that and know what’s coming up.”
Following his opening round drubbing of Dylan Slevin on Saturday, Littler continued his excellent run of form into Sunday afternoon’s session, as the World Champion averaged upwards of 110 on his way to a 6-3 victory over Ryan Searle
The Warrington-born star then posted an excellent quarter-final victory, seeing off Australian number one Damon Heta in a last-leg decider, before cruising past Rock’s World Cup partner Daryl Gurney, beating the Northern Irishman 7-1.
Littler was made to work for his victory against Rock, who was unable to clinch his second European Tour title, his first coming at the Dutch Darts Championship in Rosmalen in 2024.
The County Antrim born star kicked off his campaign with a 6-5 win over Karel Sedlacek on Saturday afternoon, before beating the in-form Stephen Bunting with another impressive 6-5 victory.
The 24-year-old – who most recently lost to Littler in the semi-final of the 2025 World Matchplay – then averaged 101 in a 6-4 victory over Luke Woodhouse in the quarter-finals, before denying James Wade of another European Tour final, beating The Machine 7-5 in the last four.
“That performance is why he [Littler] is going to be number one soon and that’s why he is the World Champion.
“I’m always hard on myself, maybe I should have been better but I’m happy with my performance, when you go to last leg decider with the World Champion you must try and give it your all, we move on.
“It’s always a learning curve, I’m here to compete and win titles, I’m happy with my weekend!”
Wade, meanwhile, cruised through his Last 16 game against Leon Weber, beating the German 6-2, before dumping out Dutch youngster Gian van Veen to reach his third European Tour semi-final of the year.
Daryl Gurney also progressed to the final four, accounting for Belgian Mario Vandenbogaerde before thrashing of Danny Noppert in a whitewash victory.
Noppert and van Veen were joined in the quarter-finals by Australian number one Damon Heta and Englishman Luke Woodhouse who continued his good run of form on the European Tour with another run to the Last 8.
The Winamax European Tour will continue next weekend after enjoying a short hiatus since July, as we head back to Prague for the Czech Darts Open (ET11) which takes place from September 5-7.
