“Back under the lights at Blackpool"- Luke Littler celebrates Winter Gardens victory

Last night Luke Littler stormed through to the second round of his debut World Matchplay with a 10-2 rout of Ryan Searle .

This win at the Winter Gardens marked a significant improvement over his debut appearance at the Blackpool venue in 2024, where he lost to Michael van Gerwen in the first round.

Before taking to the famed floor on Sunday night, 18-year-old Littler shared a photo of himself at the Winter Gardes with his 1.9 million Instagram followers.

In the caption, the Warrington born star - who is also a fan of Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach Resort, wrote: “Back under the lights at blackpool✨ world matchplay time💪🏼”

During the game, Littler, the second seed on his first appearance at Blackpool's Winter Gardens this year, looked like a man in a hurry as he jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

And although Searle was able to get on the board late on, there was never going to be any way back against Littler, who averaged nearly 109.

"I was well up for tonight," Littler said on Sky Sports. "I wanted that win, to get that winning feeling and I've done it in some standard."

After revealing earlier this week he had failed his driving theory test for a fourth time, Littler said he has not been doing his homework for that as he has been keeping his focus on his game, adding: "I've got a competition to focus on."

"I've been practising so much," he said. "Obviously I've not put much on social media but I've been at home putting the hours in, hours and hours, and I'm glad it's paid off tonight."

Fifth seed Jonny Clayton survived a tough contest against Martin Schindler to prevail 10-7, despite the German putting up better numbers for much of the contest.

Clayton's average was 99.60 compared to Schindler's 103.45 but the Welshman picked his moments to advance.

"I am here, I want to win this tournament," Clayton said. "Hopefully it is going to be my week. I love it when I pass the first round."

Earlier 13th seed Gary Anderson saw off Luke Woodhouse 10-5 despite a spectacular 167 checkout from the Englishman.

Four seeds were sent home during Sunday's afternoon session as further shocks followed Saturday's exits of top seed Luke Humphries and eighth seed Nathan Aspinall .

Seventh seed Damon Heta fell to Andrew Gilding in a contest that went to overtime, with Gilding eventually prevailing 12-10 after a late fightback came to nothing for Heta.

Gilding advances to face Dirk van Duijvenbode, who saw off 10th seed Rob Cross 10-8 after rallying from 6-2 down in a remarkable contest.

Jermaine Wattimena beat 15th seed Peter Wright 10-8 while Mike De Decker beat 12th seed Dave Chisnall 10-7.