Newly-crowned Grand Slam of Darts champion Luke Littler continued his red-hot form with a stunning six-leg blitz of world No 4 Rob Cross in the first round of the Players Championship Finals in Minehead.

The 17-year-old was in imperious form to dispatch Cross 6-0 in just over 15 minutes.

He ensured he was virtually unplayable, averaging 112.73 to begin his campaign – the second highest in the tournament’s history.

Littler will be joined in round two by defending world champion Luke Humphries who cruised past Gabriel Clemens with a 6-2 win.

However many big names will not feature in the next round after a raft of shocks on Friday saw household names including Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey knocked out.

Van Gerwen in particular languishes in a calendar year without a televised title for just the second time since 2012.

The star of the night undoubtedly was once again Littler, for whom there is long way to go as the format is relentless, with multiple matches to negotiate on the Saturday and Sunday.

However has shown little sign of slowing down after winning his 10th title of his debut year on the PDC Tour and a third major title of the year, surely setting a marker to be considered one of the favourites for next month’s World Championships, live on Sky Sports.

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