Luke Littler suffered a shock defeat to Krzysztof Ratajski at the European Championship Darts in Dortmund. The world No 1 was beaten 10-6 in the quarter-finals, failing to claim the one major title he has never won. Poland's Ratajski remarkably won seven legs in a row to take a 7-1 lead over the world champion before Littler rallied to pull the game back to 8-6.
But he missed a bullseye to hold throw in the 15th leg, and Ratajski pinned D16 to move 9-6 ahead. Littler then failed to take out 121, allowing Ratajski to hit D10 and beat The Nuke for the first time in eight meetings. Reflecting on his victory, Ratajski said he waited for Littler to miss a double seven and took his chance.
It is his biggest achievement in the European Championship. On the other side of the draw, Martin Schindler produced an astonishing display to thrash Jonny Clayton 10-1, facing a home favourite in the semi-finals. Gerwyn Price crushed Stephen Bunting 10-3 to book his place, while Ross Smith advanced with a 10-6 victory over Luke Woodhouse.
Sky Sports remains the home of darts with the Grand Slam of Darts and World Darts Championship live later this year.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing