Darts results: Luke Littler survives huge scare to overcome Ryan Joyce and reach PDC World Championship quarter-finals

The 17-year-old sensation, who is clear tournament favourite following the shock exit of Luke Humphries on Sunday night, played superbly well with his 15th 100+ average in his last 16 games but the fittingly nicknamed 'Relentless' refused to give him an easy night.

Littler was never more than one set ahead as Joyce levelled the scores at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 in an absorbing contest that kept the Ally Pally crowd on their feet throughout.

The Nuke eventually got the job done 3-1 in the deciding set - in which he averaged 111 - and will now face his close friend Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals on New Year's Day.