Clayton beats Littler in Rotterdam to extend lead
The Welshman kept his cool during an early blitz from Littler in the final and came through to claim back-to-back nightly wins and his fourth of the year. Littler was booed throughout the night following his exchange with Dutch number one Gian van Veen in Manchester two weeks ago but shrugged it off to reach the final. But having beaten Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals and held off a fight back from world number two Luke Humphries to win a thrilling semi-final 6-5, Clayton proved a challenge too far.
Clayton is now five points clear of second-placed Littler but the world champion has an 11-point buffer to fifth and both men are all-but assured of a place at the O2 Arena for finals night on 28 May. "I don't watch many games back but I watched last week's game against Michael [van Gerwen] back and it hurt a little bit when someone said I was favourite to finish bottom - that really hurt and annoyed me," Clayton told Sky Sports. "That really hurt.
I've been here three times before and I've done finals night so hopefully I can prove them wrong. "Definitely [it has given him some fuel]. They might be looking at some other people.
They've got the wrong person. " Clayton showed his resilience throughout the evening as he beat home favourite Michael van Gerwen in the quarter-finals and then battled past Josh Rock in the last four. He was quickly 2-0 down in the final with Littler hitting four of his seven 180s to race into the lead but the teenager was unable to sustain that level and Clayton clawed his way back.
His scoring was solid rather than spectacular but an average of 92. 92 did not tell the full story as Clayton produced in the key moments, showing ruthless efficiency on the doubles for a 60% checkout rate. That proved the difference with Littler hitting just four of his 15 darts at double.