LUKE LITTLER went from victorious panto villain in Liverpool to destroyer of the Austrian Open’s home favourite 24 hours later.
The Manchester United fan followed up his Premier League Darts triumph on Merseyside by beating Austrian Zoran Lerchbacher 6-2.
AlamyLuke Littler had to dash from Liverpool to Austria to make his first-round match[/caption]
Not surprisingly, after a 1,130-mile dash across the continent, the Nuke was not quite at his best.
But the 17-year-old took the first two legs easily enough – the first via a bullseye, the second with double 12.
However, Lerchbacher got a leg back against the throw.
And after Littler went 3-1 up, he did the same again to briefly give the contest a nervy edge.
A boisterous, partisan crowd certainly did their best to roar Lerchbacher on.
But he missed three shots to level at 3-3 – enabling Littler to instead nick back in and go 4-2 up.
The Warrington starlet never looked back – comfortably taking the next two legs, including his second 180 of the match in the final one, to close out victory.
He now faces Australian ace Damon Heta in the second round on Saturday.
Inside Littler’s massive rise
LUKE LITTLER has taken the darts world by storm since exploding onto the scene at the PDC World Championship.
The Nuke reached the final on his Ally Pally debut at just 16 years of age – smashing records along the way.
He has since joined Jude Bellingham on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.
And the teenage titan even had to snub an invite from the WWE.
The Sun exclusively revealed that Littler is plotting to create a fitness empire.
He is also cashing in away from the Oche thanks to an Instagram side hustle.
And he’s even the face of a brand new cereal.
Check out all of our Luke Littler stories here.
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