Littler, 16, continues dream debut with Gilding win

Teenager Luke Littler continued his dream PDC World Championship debut as he defeated UK Open champion Andrew Gilding to reach the third round.

The 16-year-old went 2-0 up and held his nerve to see out an impressive 3-1 win over his fellow Englishman.

"When I went 2-0 up, I lost all my energy," Littler told Sky Sports.

"When Andrew got the set back I was just thinking, 'Just try and win it'. I didn't want to go 2-2 on this stage. I was nervous as it is."

Gilding, the 20th seed, is 37 years older than Littler but it was the youngster who exhibited the greater composure to advance and book a spot in the last 32 against Canada's Matt Campbell.

England's Scott Williams came agonisingly close to a superb nine-dart finish in a comprehensive 3-0 upset of Dutch seventh seed Danny Noppert, while Germany's Gabriel Clemens, a semi-finalist last year, defeated Hong Kong's Man Lok Leung 3-1.

England's 2018 champion Rob Cross also reached the third round with a 3-0 win over France's Thibault Tricole.

Eighth seed Cross took advantage of an opponent gripped by nerves with France's Tricole missing 13 attempts at double during an error-strewn first set.

Cross was then able to display his class with an excellent 114 checkout to move 2-0 up before sealing his victory.

Thursday's results

Afternoon session:

Mickey Mansell (NI) 3-0 Xiaochen Zong (Chn)

Luke Woodhouse (Eng) 2-3 Berry van Peer (Ned)

Madars Razma (Lat) 3-1 Mike de Decker (Bel)

Rob Cross (Eng) 3-0 Thibault Tricole (Fra)

Evening session:

Andrew Gilding (Eng) 1-3 Luke Littler (Eng)

Danny Noppert (Ned) 0-3 Scott Williams (Eng)

Gabriel Clemens (Ger) 3-1 Man Lok Leung (HK)

Damon Heta (Aus) 3-1 Martin Lukeman (Eng)