‘The Nuke’ wasn’t in meltdown, but neither was he at his best.
His check-out accuracy was off. Doubles were elusive. He wobbled in the last 16, edging past unseeded Ryan Joyce 4-3.
But, when it has mattered, Littler plucked precision from the quiver.
Worryingly for the opposition, he has started to find his happy place too.
“I’ll be honest, no nerves,” he said after his quarter-final victory, a 5-2 walloping of Nathan Aspinall.
“I’m playing with absolute confidence, with freedom.”
Stephen Bunting was barely a semi-final speedbump for Littler’s steamrolling momentum. He averaged 105.48, his highest of this year’s competition, in a 6-1 thrashing of the world number five.
Now, Michael van Gerwen stands between Littler and dart’s biggest prize, complete with a £500,000 pay day.
The Dutchman is the youngest PDC world champion to date, having won the title as a 24-year-old in 2014.
That period was defined by the Van Gerwen’s titanic, torch-passing tussles with Phil Taylor, a rivalry that super-charged darts’ rise and saw him claim three world titles.
Littler is the beneficiary, but has added another story to the edifice.
He is already, by some distance, the best-known darts player in the world. Will he now be the best player?
