LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - England's Luke Littler thrashed Dutchman Gian van Veen to win the PDC World Darts title for the second successive year in front of a raucous Alexandra Palace crowd on Saturday.
The 18-year-old dropped the first set in the best-of-13-set showdown but hit back to stamp his authority on Van Veen who had no answer to Littler's relentless scoring.
World number one Littler never looked troubled, apart from during the brief appearance of a wasp, banging in 180s and high checkouts as he wrapped up a 7-1 victory to claim the one million pounds ($1.35 million) first prize.
He is the first player to win back-to-back titles since Scotland's Gary Anderson in 2016.
Littler's victory charge was briefly interrupted during a dazzling spell of nine successive legs as the board needed to be replaced after Van Veen cut his hand and left a small blob of blood on the surface.
Van Veen stopped the rot to win a leg in the eighth set but the laser-like focus of Littler was unbroken as he turned the final stages of the contest into a procession, sealing the title with a 147 checkout.
"The first set I wasn't happy but I kicked on from there and said to myself give it time and you'll find it and it all went to plan," Littler said on stage.
"Credit to Gian, he's had a great tournament. He was there every set so I had to take my chances."
The 23-year-old Van Veen beat Anderson to reach his first world championship final and initially looked dangerous.
Having come from behind in the first set to take it after Littler missed a double, Van Veen then went 2-0 ahead in the second set with checkouts of 145 and 127.
Van Veen narrowly missed a 127 checkout that would have given him a two-set lead and that proved the turning point as his dream of emulating former Dutch champions Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld evaporated.
($1 = 0.7432 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon)
