Luke Littler reaches the semi-final of the Premier League on night five… as the 17-year-old beats Michael Smith before losing to Rob Cross in Exeter

Luke Littler reached the semi-final of the Premier League on Thursday night, losing to Rob Cross.

The 17-year-old was third in the Premier League table going into night five in Exeter, having picked up seven points from his opening four games.

He was aiming to bounce back from his semi-final defeat to Michael van Gerwen in Newcastle last week and started well by beating Michael Smith, who beat him in the first night of the competition in Cardiff, 6-2.

He then faced the in-form Rob Cross in the semi-final, who thrashed Gerwyn Price in his last eight tie, and was up against it from the off with Cross breaking him early on.

Littler, who used new darts after signing a reported multi-million-pound deal with Target Darts, leapfrogged Smith in the table after beating him in the fourth game of the night, but was overtaken by Cross, meaning he stayed third in the league table. 

Littler beat Michael Smith (right), who defeated him on night one in Cardiff, in his first match of the night

The World Championship finalist took out 140 to break Smith in the sixth leg and send himself on the way to the last four, with Smith doing little wrong bar two misses at tops towards the end of the game.

Littler broke back against Cross having trailed 2-0, but Cross accelerated as Littler, like the world final, got stuck on double two in the eighth leg.

Cross held in the ninth and final leg to secure a 6-3 win and condemn Littler to his first defeat of the competition by more than one leg, meaning the teenager took two points from the night. 

Elsewhere, Peter Wright’s difficult tournament continued as he lost to last week’s runner-up Nathan Aspinall, with the Scot yet to win game in this year’s competition.

Wright is far adrift at the bottom of the table, sat on zero points and five away – a night win – from Gerwyn Price in seventh.

Rob Cross obliterated Price in the third semi-final of the night, averaging just short of 110 to set up a semi-final game against 

Price took out 160 in the sixth leg to prevent just the third whitewash since the introduction of the current format in 2002.

It was once again a miserable night for Peter Wright, who lost in the first round for the fifth week running

Cross (pictured) was in fine form on the night, averaging just short of 100 to defeat Gerwyn Price in the last eight

Humphries and Aspinall both struggled on the doubles in the first semi-final, despite the latter breaking the world champion twice in the first four legs.

He took out 144 to lead 4-1, and took it to 5-1 before Humphries brought it back to 5-5 and force a deciding leg. Aspinall however held his nerve and took out 160 to reach his second consecutive final and continue his revival after a tough start to the campaign.