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Old acquaintance forgot, and never brought to mind. A new year, a new crowd and perhaps even a clean slate for the world champion, Luke Littler, who continued his largely untroubled progress towards back-to-back titles with an embarrassingly one-sided 5-0 win over Krzysztof Ratajski in Thursday night’s first quarter-final.
Perhaps, after the startling boos and jeers of Tuesday night’s game against Rob Cross, after his salty comments about the barrackers paying his prize money, a certain caution might have been expected. But despite receiving a mixed reception as he entered the stage, Littler quickly won them over in a brutal, nonchalant, princely 33-minute exhibition. The Alexandra Palace multitudes drank a cup of kindness, and by the end all seemed to have been forgiven.
Of course, it helps when you reel in the big fish in the very first set, prance across the stage wielding an imaginary rod, fire off a barrage of 180s, give the people exactly what they want. The world No 37 from Poland has had a wonderful run in this tournament, breathing fresh life into a career almost derailed by life-saving brain surgery. But here he was sadly outmatched, making plenty of chances for himself but throwing only 23% on his doubles.
Afterwards, Littler revealed that all had not been quite as comfortable as it looked. “Few boos here and there,” he reported. “But as soon as I got on stage, the crowd were absolutely unbelievable. I clapped everyone, just so they knew I wanted them on my side again, and they were tonight.
“When I was 2-0 up I didn’t feel good. It didn’t feel comfortable, I was changing where I was holding my dart. Just not practising for two days, being a bit lazy. I’ve not brought a dartboard down, so I can’t really practise. But now we play day after day after day. So hopefully tomorrow’s a bit better.”
Which is, of course, its own kind of ominous warning. The fact that Littler can come on stage cold and throw an average of 100, hitting 15 of his 27 doubles and winning 15 legs to five, is a measure of a raw talent that may well be the greatest the sport has ever seen. And in hindsight the 170 checkout to clinch the opening set in the deciding leg was the moment he began to settle, the moment the crowd swung back into his camp, the last point at which Ratajski truly believed he could do something special.
The rest passed in a flurry of trebles and little vignettes. A breathtaking 128 finish on the bull. Six perfect darts to bring the auditorium to its feet in the third set, a third set he would eventually win in 38 darts. Ratajski missed a couple of darts at double-8 to reduce the deficit to 3-1, but that was pretty much the nearest thing we got to genuine jeopardy.
Barring a little flurry from Cross in their fourth-round game, Littler is yet to be really tested or put under sustained pressure. If he makes the final he will do so having not played a single top-16 seed. Does it matter? Is it better to cruise through the top section of the draw as Littler has done, or to come through a fist-fight or two?
“If Krzysztof had pushed me more, it would have set me up even better for tomorrow,” Littler admitted as thoughts turned to Friday’s semi-final against Ryan Searle. “But a win’s a win. Obviously I want it to be one-sided again, but if Ryan does test me I’m up for it.”
And Searle will certainly be a stiff test, a player who has lost all five of his previous meetings with Littler but who is operating this tournament on a new level entirely, throwing with a kind of force field around him.
Three or four years ago the man they call Heavy Metal was one of the coming forces in the sport. But like his friend Gary Anderson, Searle has never been the most motivated of trainers, has often gone into tournaments looking a little undercooked.
Something seems to have clicked in him this world championship: an appreciation that now is finally the time to make good on his talent. He swept aside Jonny Clayton 5-2 in the afternoon, and if he brings his A-game could well serve up an Ally Pally classic.
Meanwhile, in the final game of the evening, Gian van Veen served notice of his immense talent by destroying the former world champion Luke Humphries 5-1 to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
Averaging 105.4 and hitting 55% of his doubles, Van Veen continued his excellent record against a below-par Humphries, kept his nerve in the big moments and set up a clash of styles against Anderson. In so doing, he moved up to No 3 in the provisional world rankings, and guaranteed himself a slot in next year’s Premier League.
