Littler beaten by Dolan in PC28 semi-finals in Leicester
Luke Littler was defeated by Brendan Dolan in the semi-finals of PC28 in Leicester on Wednesday, halting his run at the Players Championship event; the title was claimed by Luke Humphries, who beat Dolan 8-6 in the final.
Littler, who won the World Matchplay title last month and is the world number one, progressed further at PC28 than he had at Tuesday's PC27 but did not capture the trophy. Fellow Englishman and world number two Luke Humphries took the title and, after his victory, said, "Luke has been by far the best player in the last 18 months and he deserves the world number one spot," followed by, "He's won everything and I am going to be the only one who's trying to stop him. "I want to go on and win a major this year. I don't want him to have a clean sweep - as much as everyone would love to see it."
On Wednesday the 19-year-old Littler defeated Benjamin Pratnemer, Martin Schindler and Krzysztof Ratajski to reach the final four before his run was ended by Dolan. Those wins moved him one round further than his performance at PC27 earlier in the week, where he had been eliminated in the quarter-finals by Jermaine Wattimena.
The semi-final placing earned Littler prize money of £10,500 and lifted him from 141st to 125th in the Players Championship order of merit, a movement he marked on Instagram with the message, "We are so on the move." Nevertheless, the defeat leaves the world number one with more ground to make up in the race for the season-ending finals.
Only the top 64 players on the Players Championship order of merit qualify for Minehead, and Littler—having skipped the first 26 events on the circuit—currently sits £16,750 behind 64th-placed Shane McGuirk. The projected cutoff is expected to exceed £30,000 after all 34 events, and there are seven events remaining on the schedule.
With limited events left, Littler might travel to Den Bosch next month to improve his standing, though he has previously stated his intention to only feature in the UK events; the qualification stage concludes with two events in Leicester on 4 and 5 November. His semi-final exit at PC28 therefore leaves concrete choices to be made about where he competes in the remaining events to try to reach Minehead.
Littler’s immediate task is to close the £16,750 gap to 64th place with seven Players Championship events remaining and the final qualifying events scheduled for 4 and 5 November in Leicester; any participation in Den Bosch next month would also affect his chances of reaching the November finals.