Littler beats Greaves to start Grand Slam defence

Luke Littler started his Grand Slam of Darts title defence with a comfortable win over Beau Greaves on the opening night in Wolverhampton.

The 19-year-old cruised past Greaves with a 5-2 victory, finishing with an average just under 110 and seven 180s.

The world number one raced to a 3-0 lead before calmly withstanding Greaves' threat of a fightback in the best-of-nine match.

Littler is unbeaten in 15 Grand Slam matches, and is aiming to become the third player after Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen to win three successive titles.

"I am happy with the win," Littler told Sky Sports.

"I said in my pre-match interview I needed to get off to a strong start because Beau started to find it at the end there.

"Beau was fantastic but I am happy with myself and still 100% here in Wolverhampton.

"I think it is what I need. Obviously the past three or four majors haven't gone well, but I have been practising and I am glad I have shown it."

Last month, Littler was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the European Championship after he was also beaten in the semis at the World Youth Championships.

The expanded tournament sees 48 group stage matches being played across the opening three days.

Luke Humphries, who won the World Grand Prix title in October, beat Paolo Nebrida to begin his campaign while fellow Englishman and two-time major winner Ross Smith suffered a shock 5-3 defeat by youngster Rusty-Jake Rodriguez.

English debutant Henry Coates, 20, held his own against Van Gerwen but the three-time champion won the deciding leg to clinch a 5-4 win.

There were also wins for Gerwyn Price, Nathan Aspinall, Stephen Bunting and Dutchman Gian van Veen.