Luke Littler hit a perfect six doubles out of six as he cruised through his first match at the SUPERBETÂ Poland Darts Open, but rival Luke Humphries was left frustrated by the behaviour of fans in Krakow.
World champion Littler enjoyed a remarkable 100 per cent checkout ratio in a 6-1 victory over Mike De Decker to secure a round three clash against Ross Smith on Sunday afternoon.
He averaged almost 114 as the PDC brought a World Series event to Poland for the first time and the result saw him put a difficult start to the Premier League season behind him.
"I think I definitely needed this tonight," said Littler, who lost his opening Premier League match to Gian van Veen before being thrashed by Jonny Clayton in week three.
"I definitely needed to put on a performance, not only for myself, but for the fans.
"It's not gone my way for the first few weeks in the Premier League, but it's Poland's first World Series and I know myself, I always want to win the first World Series of the year."
World No 2 Humphries faced a much stiffer test against Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski, who benefitted from some vocal support from his home fans.
Humphries raced into a 5-2 lead, but was pegged back to 5-5 before prevailing in the final leg.
He later had some harsh words both for supporters who'd tried to put him off and for himself after recording a disappointing average of 97.17.
"You probably would have seen a great game of darts there," Humphries said. "It's just sometimes, when you get crowds that, unfortunately, don't give you that kind of fair game that you want it is hard for me to perform.
"It probably put a lot of pressure on Krzysztof at the end."
He added: "I'm starting off like a train in every game I play, playing the best darts out of anybody, and then all of a sudden I'm playing the worst darts out of everybody. It's a strange scenario for me.
"That was really rubbish tonight for myself, but hopefully tomorrow I'll come back a different player and play like I have been."
Humphries will face Boris Krcmar on Sunday after the Croatian player overcame Martin Schindler, while Ross Smith secured his clash with Littler by beating Daryl Gurney 6-1.
Premier League stars Josh Rock, Clayton, Stephen Bunting and Van Veen also won on Saturday following withdrawals from both Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price.
On a day of few shocks, James Wade was thrashed 6-0 by Cameron Menzies, while two-time world champion Gary Anderson lost 6-2 to Wessel Nijman.
The tournament continues on Sunday afternoon with eight third round ties before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are all played in the evening.
Round Two
Evening Session
Josh Rock 6-1 William O'Connor
Jonny Clayton 6-4 Adam Gawlas
Michael Smith 6-5 Joe Cullen
Luke Littler 6-1 Mike De Decker
Callan Rydz 4-6 Luke Woodhouse
Luke Humphries 6-5 Krzysztof Ratajski
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Niels Zonneveld
Gian van Veen 6-5 Andrew Gilding
Afternoon Session
Boris Krcmar 6-4 Martin Schindler
Chris Dobey 6-0 Connor Scutt
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Darryl Pilgrim
Jermaine Wattimena 6-5 Danny Noppert
Wessel Nijman 6-2 Gary Anderson
Cameron Menzies 6-0 James Wade
Ross Smith 6-1 Daryl Gurney
Cristo Reyes 6-2 Ryan Searle
Afternoon Session (from midday GMT)
Round Three
Luke Littler v Ross Smith
Cristo Reyes v Josh Rock
Luke Woodhouse v Chris Dobey
Jonny Clayton v Michael Smith
Luke Humphries v Boris Krcmar
Stephen Bunting v Jermaine Wattimena
Gian van Veen v Nathan Aspinall
Wessel Nijman v Cameron Menzies
Evening Session (from 6pm GMT)
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Who will win this year's Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every Thursday from February until May on Your Site. .
