Luke Littler struggles through against Mark Cleaver as Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries also through at New Zealand Darts Masters

The Quarter-Final line-up is set at the New Zealand Darts Masters with Luke Littler struggling through against Mark Cleaver, while amid good early displays other top stars including Luke Humphries only just about surged through.

Gerwyn Price, Josh Rock and Mike de Decker though were the standouts as Saturday's conclusion will be one to savour. Littler to start was far from his best despite it looking like he would pretty much ease through at the start. He failed to register a single 180 but managed to see off the DPNZ Number Two, Mark Cleaver 6-2.

Littler breezed into the lead pinning double 12 for 2-0. Cleaver raised his arms aloft ironically as he pinned double 20 to get on the board and hold for 3-1. But amid issues for Littler in finishing the job, Cleaver managed to break for 3-2 and missed 91 on the bull for 3-3. Littler cleaned up 80 on double 20 to immediately shut the door in the face of Cleaver for 4-2. Cleaver broke again for 4-3 with a 15-darter on double 20. He held for 4-4.

But Littler turned up the anti and sealed the win 6-4 with a break of throw on double 10 with Cleaver being handed opportunities as Littler again struggles to produce his A game early on but it’s like the saying goes, get him at the start or you won’t get him and that rings true again.

Luke Humphries was under the weather last week in Wollongong and perhaps would’ve been on shock watch given that he was playing Haupai Puha, the Kiwi ace who is a Tour Card holder and pushed Luke Littler to the limit last week. But while he averaged just a smidge under 90 in the end, Humphries made light work of Puha in a 6-3 success to kick off his New Zealand Darts Masters title defence.

He started off with a 17-darter on double 10 and broke for 3-1. He pinned 75 on double nine with Puha sat waiting on double 18 to hold throw with Puha hitting 177 to leave that but didn’t get a shot. He followed that up with a 14-dart 96 checkout for 4-1. Humphries went to the brink at 5-2 with Puha missing 152. ‘Hopes’ gave himself a chance with a hold of throw but couldn’t break despite being handed an outside chance to do so and Humphries managed to fall over the line on double four. He returns tomorrow to face Damon Heta who won earlier in the night.

Ending the night was Chris Dobey facing off against Simon Whitlock which was a tie that on paper could've delivered so much but was a bit of a damp squibb despite some incredible checkouts from 'Hollywood'. He hit a 130 and 154 en route to seeing off 'The Wizard' 6-4 who could not conjure up the magic needed and falls at the first hurdle again. Dobey returns tomorrow to face Stephen Bunting.

Tata for now as Price edges through

Gerwyn Price edged past Jonny Tata as again the Kiwi truck driver managed to pose problems for the big names. It was a high quality affair with Tata playing his part to showcase his skills once more but it was ‘The Iceman’ with a 103.6 average and seven 180’s who managed to win through.

This also featured missing double 12 for a nine-dart finish in the process. He started off with an 11-darter before then hitting 80 for 2-0 breaking Tata’s throw on double 10. He followed that though by being broken straight back on double 20 with Price not able to get rid of 130. Tata levelled at 2-2 with a 56 checkout and held with an 11-darter for 3-3. He kept with Price until the conclusion pinning double 20 for 4-4. But Price held with a 13-darter with Tata sat on double 18 to break and Price broke himself to seal a superb win. One that Tata certainly played his part in but in the end, it was ‘The Iceman’ who prevailed.

While not as good as last week where Damon Heta averaged close to 110, it is of course a high bar and he made light work of TV debutant Dean Reyland winning through 6-1 despite only averaging 86. He was superb on the doubles though hitting 6/13 and he now moves through to face Luke Humphries in the next round. Stephen Bunting faced off against ‘Big Rig’ himself Ben Robb who has qualified for Ally Pally on multiple occasions and always flatters to become the next big star of Kiwi darts.

But he never quite manages to put it together and that was a similar state of affairs as he was safely beaten by ‘The Bullet’ 6-3. Bunting has made the World Series his own this year and is top seed for a reason. He hit three 180’s en route to victory. He broke to start the contest pinning a 13-darter on double 16. Robb hit back with a 13-darter of his own also on the same double to make it 2-1. But Bunting was given time later in the match as he hit a 19-darter on double 16 with Robb unable to get rid of 81 and he broke for 4-2 which proved vital. He hit double eight to consolidate and went on to seal the vital hold he needed to move through to the final day in Auckland.

De Decker and Rock impress

Mike de Decker opened up the session as he thrashed Gordon Mathers in a 6-1 win to back up his run towards the final of the Australian Darts Masters last week. He continues that onto Auckland as he landed four 180’s and a 150 checkout en route to victory. De Decker had an incredible start to his tie over Mathers who is very much streamlined nowadays losing a remarkable amount of weight.

But it was De Decker who was holding the weight in the tie as he produced a superb 150 checkout to make it 2-0. Missed darts at doubles were the key from there for De Decker in seeing off Mathers. The Belgian hit double two make it 3-0. He pivotally broke to make it 5-1 hitting double four albeit after Mathers had missed multiple darts to hold throw but this proved vital as De Decker went one away. A win he secured on double two albeit with Mathers for once all the way back. He won through 6-1 and will now return tomorrow.

Josh Rock continued that trend on of the new boys on the World Series winning through to some effect as he saw off John Hurring 6-2 in the second match up. He hit a 99.8 average, three 180’s and hit a ten darter en route. As mentioned Rock now faces Gerwyn Price for a spot in the semi-finals. It was dominance to start for Rock as he went 2-0 up on double 12. He broke again with a clinical 59 checkout with Hurring sat waiting on double 20.

Hurring did break back but this was only due to Rock missing darts for 5-0. Hurring held with a 58 checkout but any sort of late comeback was soon stunted as Rock hit a 10-darter and a 61 checkout to seal the win.