Luke Littler is waiting for his record fifth nightly victory of the Premier League season.
Dobby won his first night in two years, beating Stephen Bunting 6-2 to see Littler in the semi-finals. After avoiding the fear of running around Rob Cross 6-5, Littler fell 3-2 to Bunting, drawing the fury of the Dutch crowd as Bunting spent time replacing the barrels as he charged to a 5-2 lead.
Littler celebrated pulling it back to 5-3, which showed a change of momentum as he came back to level things. However, in the legs of a tense decision, Littler missed a double 9 while searching for a checkout for 138, and Bunting paid when he reached the final against Dobby.
Few players predicted the final between the two players who last started the night in the rankings, but Dovey looked strong all night, beating the world’s No. 1 Luke Humphries, 6-3, before sending last week’s winner, 6-2 Nathan Aspinel.
In the final, Dovey grabbed a 4-1 lead when he blew three chances with a double 19 to cut his deficit. In effect, Dovey gained full control in his first night victory since the opening night of the 2023 season.
“It feels great to be back in the winner’s circle,” Dobby said. “I knew I could do that. It’s about playing at night and three great performances. I went back to the mix.
“I’m a fighter. I went through it. I was cruising and then I lost. It’s about getting myself back among the elite. I’m here to win. I never gave any doubt.
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Bunting began the evening by sending home favourite Michael Van Gerwen. He looked out of the game from the start, but then went from 5-2 to 5-5, and eventually Bunting went on. Littler was victim of a cross in the opening round. Cross needed 150 to take the leg to decide, but after hitting a successive high note 19 seconds, he missed a double 18, and Littler snatched it and checked out 145.
