Luke Littler thrived when his rivals faltered with a stunning 5-1 win over Belgian Dimitri van den Bergh at the Grand Slam of Darts.
After blitzing through Barry Keane in the first round on Saturday, Littler followed up the quick victory with a steely thrashing of his Group F opponent to book his place in the knockout stage.
The 17-year-old will fancy his chances of winning the tournament on his maiden appearance with Luke Humphries now OUT of the tournament after two shock defeats.
World no.1 and defending champion Humphries earlier crashed out of the tournament with his second defeat.
After suffering a shock defeat to Rowby-John Rodriguez on Saturday night, Humphries knew there was no room for error when he took on James Wade.
‘Cool Hand’ made a strong start as he raced to a 2-0 lead, but subsequently lost 5-3 to be sent packing from Wolverhampton.
Meanwhile, Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith’s place in the Grand Slam of Darts hang by a thread.
There was also a surprise defeat for Michael van Gerwen, who lost a thrilling contest against Gary Anderson 5-4.
However, Van Gerwen has the chance to make it out of his group with a win over Ryan Joyce.
Michael Smith was also beaten as he suffered a 5-1 shellacking to Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena.
But like Van Gerwen, Smith can still qualify from his group with a win over World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker on Monday.
Littler is next in action on Tuesday night when he takes on Lourence Ilagan.
The Grand Slam of Darts starts with group matches that are best of nine legs.
After three games, the top two in each group qualify for the knock-out stage.
Belgium
