World Matchplay 2026: Luke Littler advances to the semi-finals by defeating Josh Rock

Luke Littler’s defense of the World Matchplay title continued with a straightforward 16-7 quarter-final win over Josh Rock in Blackpool.

Rock initially kept pace with the world number one as the players traded breaks to reach 5-5.

But after 19-year-old Littler lost five matches in a row, there proved to be no way back for Rock as the defending champions progressed, in impressive form, to the semi-finals.

After throwing 17 180s for an average score of 109.57, Littler said: “Right now, everything is going to go as planned.”

The teenager added: “I feel good. I can miss some duels because the scoring is there.

“Once again, another great performance, but fair play to Josh, he put up a good fight.”

Littler will play unseeded Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Earlier on Thursday evening, tournament outsider Van Duijvenbode survived a late rally from Gary Anderson to reach his first Matchplay semi-final.

Anderson, the 2018 World Matchplay champion, threatened to close an eight-game deficit with a brilliant late display including a 154-run run, but Van Duyvenbode held on to secure a 16-13 win.

Commenting on his second-round tie-break win over Michael van Gerwen, van Duijvenbode said trembling “like a little baby crying for his mother” allowed his compatriot to get back into the match after leading 8-4.

After going 8-4 again on Thursday, Van Duijvenbode lost two straight games but then went 14-6 by winning the next six games without answering.

However, it took another nine rounds for Van Duyvenbode to win the draw as the resurgent Anderson pushed him hard.