History-making teenager Littler beats Cross to storm into World final

Teenager Luke Littler beat 2018 champion Rob Cross to storm into the PDC World Darts Championship final.

Littler, 16, is appearing in the tournament for the first time and lost the first set but recovered to win 6-2.

Littler, who has now earned £200,000, is the youngest person to reach the final, overtaking Kirk Shepherd who was 21 years and 88 days old in 2008.

Luke Humphries faces Scott Williams in the second semi-final with both aiming to reach a first final.

Humphries will become world number one if he reaches the final.

Round 1: Beat Christian Kist 3-0

Round 2: Beat Andrew Gilding (ranked 20) 3-1

Round 3: Beat Matt Campbell 4-1

Round 4: Beat five-time world darts champion Raymond van Barneveld (28) 4-1

Quarter-final: Beat Brendan Dolan (29) 5-1

Semi-final: Beat 2018 PDC world champion Rob Cross (8) 6-2

Littler, who turns 17 on 21 January, was serenaded by the Alexandra Palace crowd as the pair warmed up, with "there's only one Luke Littler" and "walking in a Littler wonderland" ringing round the famous amphitheatre.

Many pundits predicted that Littler would outscore Cross and that ended up being the case, despite some initial scrappy and nervous darts.

He finished with a three-dart average of 106.05 compared to Cross' 102.77.

It is the fourth match of the tournament that Littler has averaged more than 100. No other player has done that with already eliminated Chris Dobey next on three occasions.

Littler started the tournament ranked 164th in the world and had a provisional ranking of 50 heading into the semi-finals. He could rise as high as ninth if he is successful in Wednesday's final.

He had only played four senior matches at PDC premier events before making his debut on 20 December and now has the opportunity to be the youngest winner of the tournament, surpassing Michael van Gerwen, who was 24 years and nine months old when he won his first title in 2014.