Beau Greaves won a thrilling last-leg decider to shock Luke Littler 6-5 in the semi-finals of the PDC world youth championship in Wigan.
Greaves, a three-time WDF women’s world champion who has secured a PDC Tour card for the 2026-27 season, had gone 2-1 up in the semi-final. Littler responded with the next three legs, the PDC world champion competing the day after defeating rival Luke Humphries 6-1 in the World Grand Prix final in Leicester.
Doncaster’s Greaves – who has also won the PDC Women’s World Matchplay twice – produced a recovery of her own to level the match at 4-4 and then again at 5-5 to force a last-leg decider. Greaves took out an 80 checkout as Littler slipped to a rare defeat despite a match average of 107.4, with his opponent averaging 105.
The defending champion, Gian van Veen, came through the other side of the knockout draw, beating Sebastian Bialecki 6-4 in his semi-final. The final will be held on 23 November at Butlin’s Minehead Resort, which will also be hosting the 2025 Players Championship Finals.
Rather than taking some downtime after winning what he admitted had been a “brutal” double-start event in Leicester, Littler was back on the oche at the Robin Park Leisure Centre on Monday afternoon as part of the 128-strong field.
The 18-year-old, who has also won the UK Open and World Matchplay this season to close on Humphries’ world No 1 ranking, had no trouble in progressing from the initial round-robin stage, with the players split into 32 groups of four and the top two advancing to the knockout rounds.
Littler saw off Tom Garfield 6-2, averaging 102, before dispatching Ireland’s Ronan McDonagh 6-1 to move into the last 16. Charlie Manby – who is fourth on the PDC Development Tour rankings – led Littler 5-3 only for the world No 2 to reel off the final three legs.
The quarter-final against Jamai van den Herik proved less dramatic, as Littler built on a fast start to close out a 6-1 win – but an expected repeat of the 2023 final with Van Veen was denied by Greaves’ exceptional display, as she became the first woman to reach the world youth championship final.
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Greaves topped her round-robin group with three wins from three games, then whitewashed Coby Jones-Swanson in her first knockout game. The 21-year-old defeated Dutchman Danny Jansen 6-2 in the last 16, but had to overturn a 4-2 deficit against Tyler Thorpe, reeling off four consecutive legs to advance.
In her quarter-final, Greaves defied a brief rally from Germany’s Liam Maendl-Lawrance to win 6-2 and set up the blockbuster clash against Littler. The pair could meet again at November’s Grand Slam of Darts, which Greaves has qualified for by topping the PDC Women’s Series Order of Merit this year.
Littler took to social media to congratulate Greaves on her win and wish her well for the final. Writing on his Instagram story, Littler said: “I had two 10-dart legs, missed double 12 for a nine and still couldn’t win. Fair play to Beau. All the best in Minehead. Some talent.”
