World champion Luke Littler's hopes of defending his World Grand Prix title ended with a first-round defeat by Luke Woodhouse in Leicester. The 19-year-old, who had been aiming to recover from a quarter-final exit at the World Series of Darts Finals, took the first set but was reportedly below par throughout the match, averaging just 82.41.
Woodhouse capitalised on Littler's performance, levelling the match and securing the deciding set 3-1 in legs with a 75 checkout. Woodhouse is now set to play Nathan Aspinall, the 2022 runner-up, in the last 16, after Aspinall edged past Kevin Doets 2-1.
Elsewhere in the tournament, six-time winner Michael van Gerwen was also knocked out, losing 2-1 to Ryan Joyce. Joyce will advance to play Danny Noppert, who defeated Niko Springer by the same scoreline. Gerwyn Price comfortably beat Sebastian Bialecki 2-0 and will face Ross Smith, while Jonny Clayton advanced past Krzysztof Ratajski 2-1 to set up a match with Wessel Nijman.