Bahrain Masters: Luke Little and Luke Humphries win first-round matches but Rob Cross is knocked out
Newly crowned world champion Luke Littler began his Bahrain Masters title defense with a 6-3 victory over Lawrence Ilagan in Sakhir.
Littler raised his First PDC Senior Trophy In the match 12 months ago, Philippines’ Ilagan won two games in a row to lead 4-1, putting slight pressure on the 17-year-old.
However, a score of 142 in round eight allowed Littler to regain control and he won comfortably with an average score of 94.36.
The opening match was a shock as world No. 3 Rob Cross was beaten 6-3 by No. 91 Paolo Nebrida.
Nebrida, 30, became the first Filipino player to win a game at the World Series with a double.
World No. 1 Luke Humphries, who averages 103.66, hit six doubles in a 6-0 victory over home player Abdullah Said.
In Thursday’s first round, eight players from the PDC Tour will compete against eight players from Asia in rounds one to six.
The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are all scheduled for Friday.
Welsh player Gerwyn Price defeated 23-year-old Hong Kong player Lok Yin Lee 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Debutants Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey also made the cut, defeating India’s No. 1 Nitin Kumar (6-2) and Bahrain’s Basin Mahar respectively. Maode (6-0).
Scotland’s Peter Wright defeated Alexis Toilo of the Philippines 6-3, and Britain’s Nathan Aspinall defeated China’s Zong Xiaochen 6-2.
