World Darts Championship: Luke Littler plays down prospect of beating Phil Taylor's record ahead of winning start to title defence

Luke Littler believes he may never beat Phil Taylor’s record of World Darts Championship titles, despite making a winning start to his title defence at the Alexandra Palace.

The world No 1, looking to emulate Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson by winning back-to-back World Championships, posted seven maximums and fired a 101.54 average during a straight-sets win over Darius Labanauskas on the opening night.

'The Nuke' reached the final in both his first two World Darts Championship appearances, finishing runner-up to Luke Humphries on debut before claiming the Sid Waddell Trophy by beating Michael van Gerwen in last year's showpiece.

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Littler said earlier this year he has "got the ability" to chase down Taylor's tally of 16 world championships, 14 of those coming on the PDC, but has since played down the prospect of beating that record total.

When asked whether he had a target number of World Championship titles, Littler told Sky Sports ahead of his win: "Not in my head, no. The talk is always 'will he beat Phil Taylor's record?' Personally, I don't think anyone will.

"I don't think myself will. I've actually not said to myself how many [world titles] do I want. I'm sure one day that will come and I will pick a number."

Littler has enjoyed a remarkable 12 months since World Championship glory - adding TV titles at the UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship finals, but is looking to enjoy more Alexandra Palace success.

"This [winning a second title] is (the most important one)," Littler added. It has been a decade since someone went back-to-back, which was Gary Anderson, so to be the fourth player to go back-to-back would mean everything.

"I have only not picked up four majors this year so it has been a very good year. I was gutted to lose the Premier League to Luke [Humphries], but there is always next year to tick off the ones I have not got."

Littler: That definitely wasn't easy!

Littler was taken to final-leg deciders in both the first two sets by Labanauskas, who opened with a 130 checkout, before back-to-back ton-plus finishes in the third set helped 'The Nuke' close out victory and book a meeting against Belgium's Mario Vandenbogaerde or Welsh qualifier David Davies.

"It [beating Labanauskas] definitely wasn't easy," Littler told Sky Sports. "Looking at the stats, it didn't feel like that but I'm happy!"

Littler later added in his press conference: "The hardest game is out of the way and we'll be back in 10 days. I didn't put too much pressure on myself and the performance showed.

"Coming into the match I wasn't bothered about making a statement or not, I just wanted to get past the first round. The performance didn't feel like it [a statement] but I'll take all the positives.

"I won't look back at it, it's job done - I'm very happy with the performance. I think I'll chill now until Tuesday, go and watch Manchester United on Monday against Bournemouth and then I'll put a few hours in."

What's next?

The World Darts Championship continues on Friday December 12 with two bumper sessions of opening round action.

The afternoon session is live from 12.30pm and sees Niels Zonneveld vs Haupai Puha, Ian White vs Mervyn King, Ryan Searle vs Chris Landman, and Rob Cross vs Cor Dekker.

Then, in the evening session, Ross Smith takes on Andreas Harrysson, Ricky Evans faces Man Lok Leung, Gian van Veen plays Cristo Reyes, and Damon Heta clashes with Steve Lennon.

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live until January 3 on Sky Sports' dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407). Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.

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