World champion Luke Littler defeated world number one Luke Humphries 6-5 in a last-leg decider to win night two of the Premier League in Glasgow.
The 18-year-old was on the brink of defeat earlier in the evening against Rob Cross, but he fought back from 5-1 behind.
Humphries was hampered in the final against his fellow Englishman after needing a plaster on a cut on the middle finger of his right throwing hand.
Despite that, and his frustration at whistling in the crowd, Humphries took a 5-4 lead before Littler won the next two legs in a performance which saw a 170 checkout, 55% doubles success and an average of 101.03 compared to his opponent’s 93.68.
“It was a weird final. We both weren’t playing well,” said world number two Littler after claiming the nightly £10,000 prize.
“Now and again I look up at the screen and we’re on a 90 average. The crowd got involved.”
Littler was runner-up to Humphries in last year’s world final before beating him to win the 2024 Premier League.
At one stage in the final referee Kirk Bevins had to tell the crowd to stop whistling, while earlier on Gerwyn Price mocked spectators by whistling himself when they got on his back.
Littler had not reached the final in the previous six tournaments he had played since last month’s world title win, despite averaging more than 105 in four of those defeats.
But he avenged the last-leg loss to Michael van Gerwen of seven days ago with a dominant 6-2 victory over the Dutchman in the semi-finals after a stunning comeback against Rob Cross where he reeled off five straight legs to win.
“I was down 5-1 and then you get a few legs on the bounce and my confidence, it just hit the roof and I managed to pull it back,” added Littler.
Humphries, victor on night one in Belfast a week ago, produced two comeback wins in Glasgow, winning four consecutive legs to beat Price in the semi-finals, having achieved the same feat against Chris Dobey.
