Fresh from his 8-5 triumph against Michael van Gerwen in the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters final, the world champion raced out of the blocks with three 180’s to take the first set.
Almost everyone would have expected Littler to surge into the next round, but De Decker fought back in the second set with perfection on the outer ring, including a classy 121 finish on the bullseye.
The 2024 World Grand Prix champion continued to punish his opponent in the third set by keeping his cool on double 16 after Littler missed multiple darts at double 10.
De Decker put himself in a strong position to pull off a massive upset and pinned double 16 to win his fourth consecutive leg against the world number one.
That sparked Littler into life, though, and in the second leg of set four, the 19-year-old missed double 15 for a spectacular nine-dart finish before cleaning up double 15 in his following visit.
But just when everyone thought the drama couldn’t get any more thrilling, De Decker narrowly missed double 11 for a stunning 142 checkout to knock out the tournament favourite, and that was all she wrote.
Littler held his nerve in the final set of the match to wrap up a 3-2 victory and book his place in the last 16 against Ross Smith.
Humphries turns it on against Chisnall
After Littler almost tasted defeat against De Decker, all eyes were on his closest challenger, Luke Humphries, in a showdown with Dave Chisnall.
Humphries was hoping to retain his crown after beating Jonny Clayton in 2025, and the 30-year-old struggled to get going in the early stages against Chisnall.
'Chizzy' took the first set after 'Cool Hand' Luke missed six darts at double and averaged a measly 87.24.
But the 2024 world champion responded in world-class fashion with a mind-blowing 125 average in the second set before hitting back-to-back 11-dart legs to take control of the match.
That was followed by an equally emphatic fourth set - including a missed dart at the bullseye on the 170 checkout - before tidying up the 25 to clinch a 3-1 win.
Humphries has set up a showdown with Luke Woodhouse, who averaged a stunning 108.64 on his way to thrashing Martin Schindler 3-0 in sets before Ross Smith survived an early scare against debutant Jimmy van Schie to secure a 3-1 victory.
Danny Noppert’s class prevailed against a resurgent Daryl Gurney as the Dutchman clinched a 3-1 win, and the highlight of his performance was a sumptuous 105 finish (two double tops) in the decisive third set.
Ryan Searle was slow out of the blocks in his showdown with Rob Cross, but did threaten to mount a spectacular comeback after going 2-0 down.
The 2026 World Championship semi-finalist threw seven perfect darts at the start of the third set and even averaged a whopping 111.55 in the fifth, but that wasn’t enough to stop Cross in his tracks as the former world champion pulled off a shock 3-1 win.
Josh Rock produced a solid, yet unspectacular display in his 3-1 triumph over Connor Scutt, before Stephen Bunting wrapped up the night's action with a win by the same scoreline against Jeffrey De Graaf.
