Luke Littler is gunning for a first win of the new season after triumph at the Ally Pally as first World Series heads into Finals Night
12:11, 11 Jan 2026Updated 22:40, 15 Jan 2026
In-form Luke Littler remains in pole position for a second Bahrain Masters title as he heads into Finals Night the clear favourite to land the prize.
Day One of the year’s opening World Series of Darts event saw all eight PDC superstars progress to the Friday showdown with Littler and World No.2 Luke Humphries delivering stand-out first-round displays.
Newly-crowned two-time World Champion Littler averaged over 106 to topple Paul Lim and will now face Gerwyn Price, who defeated Motomu Sakai, in the opening quarter-final
Humphries also impressed at the Exhibition World Bahrain as he registered a third consecutive whitewash victory over Host Nation representative Abdulla Saeed. Cool Hand now plays Nathan Aspinall, who defeated Lourence Ilagan to advance.
Defending champion Stephen Bunting swept aside Ryusei Azemoto to set-up a clash with Michael van Gerwen, who defied a spirited display from PDC Asian Tour winner Alexis Toylo to open his title challenge.
Van Gerwen’s fellow countrymen Gian van Veen and Danny Noppert will go head-to-head on Finals Day after defeating Man Lok Leung and Basem Mahmood respectively.
WHERE TO WATCH: The Bahrain Darts Masters will be broadcast live on PDCTV in all territories other than Germany, Austria & Switzerland (coverage via DAZN), and on ITV4 and ITVX for UK viewers.
2026 Bahrain Darts Masters
Exhibition World, Bahrain
Schedule of play
Friday January 16. 4pm BST
Quarter-Finals
Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price
Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting
Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
Gian van Veen v Danny Noppert
Best of 11 legs
Semi-Finals
Littler/Price v Van Gerwen/Bunting
Humphries/Aspinall v Van Veen/Noppert
Best of 13 legs
Final
Best of 15 legs
PRIZE FUND
Winner: £30,000
Runner-up: £16,000
Semi-finals: £10,000
Quarter-finals: £5,000
First round: £1,750
Total: £100,000