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World champion Luke Littler was knocked out of the Bahrain Masters quarter-finals by Gerwyn Price for the second year in a row as his 21-match winning streak came to an end.
It is Littler’s first defeat since losing in the last 32 of the Players Championship 34 on 30 October.
His subsequent unbeaten run led to him becoming world number one and capturing the Grand Slam of Darts, his first Players Championship title and a second PDC World Championship.
Littler was in eye-catching form on Thursday when he thrashed veteran Paul Lim on his first trip to the oche since retaining his world title earlier this month.
But the 19-year-old Englishman missed darts at key moments in the last eight on Friday, finishing with an average of 94.04 to Price’s 97.43 in a 6-2 loss.
Price, 40, broke the world number one for a second time with a bullseye finish to establish a 4-1 advantage.
Wales’ Price narrowly missed a third 100-plus checkout to wrap up victory in the eighth leg before hitting double 10 to progress.
Former world champion Luke Humphries also exited the exhibition tournament at the quarter-final stage as he was beaten 6-3 by Nathan Aspinall.
Neither Aspinall nor Price would make the final, though, an all-Dutch affair in which Michael van Gerwen claimed an 8-6 win over Gian van Veen.
Bahrain Masters – results
Quarter-Finals
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Luke Littler
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Stephen Bunting
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Luke Humphries
Gian van Veen 6-1 Danny Noppert
Semi-Finals
Gerwyn Price 2-7 Michael van Gerwen
Nathan Aspinall 4-7 Gian van Veen
Final
Michael van Gerwen 8-6 Gian van Veen
