Luke Littler starred in a statement 10-2 victory over Ryan Searle in the first round of the World Matchplay 2025 at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens.

On his debut in 2024, Littler lost to eventual finalist Michael van Gerwen in the first round but this time, the reigning World Champion meant business as he booked a contest against Jermaine Wattimena in the second round in rapid time.

Posting a near 109 average, the title favourite got off to an almighty start as he whitewashed Searle in the opening session for a 5-0 lead, with three breaks of throw, a fantastic 126 checkout, and monster 121 average putting him firmly in the driving seat.

It was almost an unplayable standard from Littler. His first five legs were finished in 12, 12, 13, 11, and 14 darts.

Littler’s incredible level continued in the second session as he showed off every facet of his game. Searle managed to give himself a sliver of hope with a break of throw to bring the game to 8-2.

It was then just a canter as Littler finished off his first ever win on the Matchplay stage, sending his message to the competition that he is there to play.

“I was well up for it tonight, I just wanted to get that win, get that winning feeling and I did it,” Littler told Sky Sports. “I’m so glad to get that win, get that winning feeling and I can’t wait to come back.”

“I felt very comfortable, I have been practising so much.

“I’ve just been putting in hours and hours. I’m glad it’s paid off.

“All eyes are on me now, just take it game by game… I can’t wait to get back on stage.”

In the opening contest of the night, Gary Anderson put in a comprehensive showing to secure a 10-5 win over Luke Woodhouse.

The 2018 Matchplay winner Anderson won four of the first five legs and although Woodhouse found his scoring power and brought things level at 5-5, the Scotsman then blitzed his opponent and took five legs on the bounce, sealing the dominant win on tops.

He will play Stephen Bunting, who scraped through with a 10-8 win against Ryan Joyce.

With both players way off their game, Bunting managed to find moments with his power scoring to ensure the first two sessions went 3-2 in his favour, another break of throw and four legs on the spin putting him 8-4 up and his average up to 98.

Joyce managed to show some real battling spirit to level the game at 8-8 but a break of throw gave Bunting the darts for the match, ‘The Bullet’ taking out D16 to get over the line.

Elsewhere, Jonny Clayton came through for a 10-7 victory in a high-quality match against Martin Schindler.

Clayton got off to a breathtaking start and three breaks of throw, with a raft of 180s and a near 112 average having him leading 4-1 at the first break.

Fifth seed Clayton continued to limit Schindler’s opportunities as much as possible but the German kept playing his game and eventually got his moment to hit back, a big break of throw moving him 6-4 behind.

Schindler kept battling with a fantastic 103.45 average and managed to break again to bring the contest to 9-7 but ‘The Ferret’ finally got the game done on D5 to book a second-round tie against Mike de Decker.

Seeds sent tumbling in Blackpool on Sunday afternoon

Four seeds were sent out of the World Matchplay on Sunday afternoon as Damon Heta, Rob Cross, Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall all suffered defeats.

Andrew Gilding needed overtime to win an epic contest 12-10 against seventh seed Heta in the opening match of the day, with ‘Goldfinger’ nearly sending the Winter Gardens into a frenzy as he narrowly missed a nine-darter on D12 in the ninth leg.

Gilding will play Dirk van Duijvenbode in the second round after he recovered from 6-2 down to beat 10th seed Cross 10-8.

Elsewhere, Jermaine Wattimena toppled 15th seed Wright with a 10-8 victory.

The final match of the session saw 12th seed Chisnall lose 10-7 to Belgium’s Mike De Decker.

Chisnall recovered from a slow start to lead 7-6, only to then lose the last four legs of the match, the Belgian winning the contest with a spectacular 148 checkout.

What’s next at the World Matchplay?

On Monday July 21, we return to just one evening session from Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, which you can watch live on Sky Sports Action and Main Event from 7pm.

Michael van Gerwen’s clash with Raymond van Barneveld headlines the session along with Chris Dobey playing Ricardo Pietreczko, Gerwyn Price up against Daryl Gurney, and Ross Smith vs Josh Rock.

Watch the World Matchplay live on Sky Sports from July 19-27 or stream without a contract.