Darts news: Five players who impressed at the UK Open as Luke Littler triumphs
The 2025 UK Open in Minehead failed to disappoint with historic stories and hectic matches.
Reigning World Champion Luke Littler took home the title against James Wade on Sunday night, the teenager putting on a show across the weekend with multiple dazzling performances.
Sports News Blitz darts expert Joseph Hannen takes a look at five of the best performers during the tournament.
Luke Littler
The UK Open marked yet another PDC title for the teenage sensation, who dominated James Wade 11-2 in the final.
The records keep coming for Littler, who hit a record breaking 47 180s across the tournament.
Littler kicked off his tournament with a bit of a scare, though, beating Peter Wright in a last-leg shootout before dispatching Jermaine Wattimena 10-4.
Despite his struggles on the doubles throughout the tournament, The Nuke ended up looking comfortable in every match leading up to the final.
Littler took care of Krzysztof Ratajski, Gian van Veen, and Jonny Clayton before meeting James Wade in the showpiece.
A whitewash was then on the cards until Wade won his first leg at the 10th time of asking.
Littler fired in nine 180s and averaged 101.51 in the final to claim his 12th PDC title.
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James Wade
Despite a drubbing in the final, Wade can be very happy with his performance in Minehead, not to mention reaching his first major tournament final since 2023.
The 11-time PDC major winner began his campaign with a comfortable 10-3 win over William Borland before winning a last-leg decider against Cameron Menzies in round five.
A 95.00 average was enough to see off Robert Owen 10-8 in round six, the Welshman who had shocked Michael van Gerwen in the previous round.
Another last-leg decider went in favour of Wade as he edged past Luke Humphries in a thrilling quarter-final encounter, which he followed up with a vintage display against Josh Rock in the semi-final, winning 11-2 and setting up a final date with Littler.
The 41-year-old’s run to the final proves that he still has the desire and ability to compete for more major titles.
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Beau Greaves
Greaves made history over the weekend in Minehead, becoming the first woman to win three matches at the UK Open.
Her UK Open debut certainly caught the eyes of darts fans everywhere as the three-time Women's World Champion proved her capabilities on the main TV stage.
The 21-year-old comfortably beat Swiss player Stefan Bellmont 6-1 in round one before repeating the scoreline against Ryhs Griffin in round two.
Up next was Mickey Mansell, a six-time tournament winner and world number 42. However, Greaves again showed her quality, winning 6-2 and making it three wins on Friday.
Greaves then drew world No.1 Humphries in the most eye-catching tie of round four.
Courtesy of 126 and 124 checkouts, Greaves raced into a 2-0 lead and at one point found herself 7-5 up.
Humphries, doing what he does best, fought back and claimed a 10-7 victory, averaging 103.40 to Greaves’ 93.60.
The performance of Greaves lead to an outpouring of admiration and praise from the darting world, with Humphries claiming that Greaves “belongs in big-time darts”.
Fallon Sherrock, the first woman to win a match at the World Championships, hailed Greaves as the next female star in darts after her incredible run.
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Josh Rock
Rock achieved his first TV semi-final at the weekend before falling short to a dominant Wade.
The man they call Rocky took out Ross Smith in a last-leg decider with a 104.82 average in round five after beating Justin Wood in round four.
He then took on Rob Cross in round six, winning 10-6 from 4-0 down and throwing 22 140+ scores to just nine from Cross.
Another Premier League player subsequently stood in his way in the quarter-finals: world No.11 Nathan Aspinall.
However, Rock averaged 99.35, hit eight 180s, and had a 40% checkout rate on his way to a magnificent 10-7 win.
The semi-finals proved a step too far for the young Northern Irishman, though, who fell to a 11-2 defeat to Wade.
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Gian van Veen
Van Veen won the game of the tournament on Saturday, beating Damon Heta 10-9 with an astonishing 109.90 average and 73% checkout rate in round six.
Incredibly, the Dutchman’s checkout rater was actually trumped by Heta, who hit 9/10 on the outer ring, but Van Veen’s rampant scoring ultimately got him over the line.
The world No.27 had beaten Nick Kenny 10-4 in round four and Stephen Burton 10-7 before that to set up his tie with The Heat.
Van Veen then fell short to eventual winner Littler in the quarter-finals, but the 22-year-old will use this impressive run to build something going forward.
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