Luke Littler will not play at Minehead in the PDC World Youth Championship after falling at the final hurdle to Cam Crabtree, who sealed a 6-5 win in a closely contested semi-final. Crabtree, a current PDC Tour Card holder who booked an Ally Pally spot yesterday through the Development Tour, proved to be the party pooper for Littler and will now face Jan Schmidt in what was a surprise final given what was on offer.
Charlie Manby was the other half of the semi-final so given their history many would've perhaps expected that it would've been Littler v Manby. But Manby was beaten by Schmidt 6-3, who had previously defeated Henry Coates, a ProTour winner this season. In the Quarter-Finals, Kaya Baysal also fell to Crabtree. The now 16-year-old has been fantastic since he became eligible to play on the Development Tour and lost narrowly 6-4. Schmidt had seen off second seed Sebastian Bialecki in the Last 16.
Littler was barely troubled all day in his ties as he saw off Archie Self and David Fidler, but it was Lewis Cook who was the biggest scare. Cook was 3-1 up on Littler, but lost 6-4 in the end to the World No.1. It was originally a group stage which Littler eased through with no issue and in the knockout, it looked likely he would ease through. Others involved included Owen Bates, Keane Barry and Jurjen van der Velde. Bates lost to Manby in the Last 16, while Baysal beat Van der Velde in the Last 16. Barry lost at the first hurdle to Angelo Balsamo, same for Jamai van den Herik who won a Tour Card yesterday.
In the semi-finals, Crabtree averaged 97.91 to Littler's 97.89, while Schmidt averaged 94.85 to Manby's 91.63. In the quarter-finals, Littler averaged 92.77 in a 6-2 win over Harrison Leigh, Crabtree averaged 88.34 in a 6-4 win over Kaya Baysal, Schmidt averaged 90.63 in a 6-5 win over Henry Coates, and Manby averaged 87.59 in a 6-2 win over Arthur Allston.
In the Last 16, Littler averaged 90.72 in a 6-4 win over Archie Self, Leigh averaged 77.08 in a 6-3 win over Tavis Dudeney, Crabtree averaged 95.75 in a 6-1 win over Joseph Simpson, Baysal averaged 88.32 in a 6-2 win over Jurjen van der Velde, Schmidt averaged 91.16 in a 6-2 win over Sebastian Bialecki, Coates averaged 90.22 in a 6-5 win over Dylan Slevin, Allston averaged 80.77 in a 6-4 win over Ashton Brown, and Manby averaged 85.52 in a 6-5 win over Owen Bates.
In the Last 32, Littler averaged 96.58 in a 6-1 win over David Fidler, Self averaged 87.16 in a 6-2 win over Sean McKeon, Dudeney averaged 79.81 in a 6-3 win over Jenson Remory, Leigh averaged 86.21 in a 6-3 win over Jack Howarth, Crabtree averaged 83.44 in a 6-2 win over Lewis Mayes, Simpson averaged 76.3 in a 6-5 win over Mio Varila, Baysal averaged 87.86 in a 6-5 win over Sam Jackson, Van der Velde averaged 88.41 in a 6-0 win over Damien Decla, Bialecki averaged 85.96 in a 6-5 win over Jenson Walker, Schmidt averaged 87.43 in a 6-5 win over Daniel Kortbek, Slevin averaged 88.59 in a 6-4 win over Shane de Jong, Coates averaged 95.89 in a 6-3 win over James Buckby, Brown averaged 94.6 in a 6-1 win over Angelo Balsamo, Allston averaged 93.87 in a 6-2 win over Nathan Potter, Manby averaged 97.21 in a 6-1 win over Jarod Becker, and Bates averaged 88.23 in a 6-5 win over Hunter Eyles.
In the Last 64, Littler averaged 100.03 in a 6-4 win over Lewis Cook, Fidler averaged 73.2 in a 6-2 win over Dylan Quinn, McKeon averaged 76.27 in a 6-3 win over JJ Wright, Self averaged 91.83 in a 6-1 win over Keanu van Velzen, Dudeney averaged 80.26 in a 6-4 win over Mika Donnevert, Remory averaged 88.25 in a 6-1 win over James Beeton, Howarth averaged 81.55 in a 6-2 win over Connor Hopkins, Leigh averaged 76.83 in a 6-3 win over Ieuan Halsall, Crabtree averaged 86.55 in a 6-2 win over Lenny Schlueter, Mayes averaged 79.85 in a 6-5 win over Charlie Stocks, Varila averaged 81.11 in a 6-3 win over Tyler Thorpe, Simpson averaged 83.73 in a 6-5 win over Killian Heffernan, Baysal averaged 88.41 in a 6-0 win over Mason Whitlock, Jackson averaged 89.72 in a 6-3 win over Bram van Dijk, Van der Velde averaged 89.21 in a 6-2 win over Mitchel Beswick, Decla averaged 85.96 in a 6-4 win over Oliver Pearce-Burgess, Bialecki won by walkover against Nathan Girvan, Walker averaged 95.47 in a 6-5 win over Luuk De Waal, Schmidt averaged 99.97 in a 6-2 win over Owen Roelofs, Kortbek averaged 76.36 in a 6-1 win over Xanti Van den Bergh, De Jong averaged 86.11 in a 6-4 win over Alexander-Veigar Thorvaldsson, Slevin averaged 81.15 in a 6-2 win over Keenan Thomas, Buckby averaged 83.95 in a 6-4 win over Mark Tabak, Coates averaged 97.04 in a 6-4 win over Jamai van den Herik, Balsamo averaged 85.73 in a 6-5 win over Keane Barry, Brown averaged 82.37 in a 6-2 win over Kai Clark, Potter averaged 81.24 in a 6-0 win over Merlin Nicolaus, Allston averaged 82.02 in a 6-5 win over Nathan Care, Manby averaged 89.24 in a 6-1 win over Ansh Sood, Becker averaged 75.99 in a 6-2 win over Dominik Gruellich, Bates averaged 84.76 in a 6-3 win over Liam Maendl-Lawrance, and Eyles averaged 71.53 in a 6-4 win over Zachary Meeks.
