Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Column CM160
The 2026 UK Open – Final Day
After the sixth round, only eight participants remained: three Englishmen, two Welshmen, one Northern Irishman, one Dutchman, and one Pole – Luke Littler, Rob Cross, James Wade, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price, Josh Rock, Danny Noppert, and Krzysztof Ratajski.
This reflects the participating nations to some extent. As with all other PDC tournaments, the English have always been in the majority at the UK Open. Wales has also been strongly represented from the beginning, along with a few Scots and occasionally an Irishman. Even in the very first year, non-Europeans stood at the oche: American Steve Brown, Jamaican Al Hedman, and Australian David Platt. Al Hedman, however, remains the only Jamaican to date, and Americans have not always been present – although in 2009 there were four: John Kuczynski, David Fatum, Gary Mawson, and Larry Butler. Mawson even reached the final in 2008. However, in all those years, there was almost always an Australian among the participants.
In 2004, the first Belgian (Erik Clarys) and the first Canadian (John Part) appeared in the field. This year, as last year, there was also a Canadian – Jim Long – at the UK Open. Once – in 2005 – an Italian darts player, Sergio Bongiovanni, qualified for the UK Open. In 2011, the first two German players, Jyhan Artut and Michael Rosenauer, participated; this year there were sixteen. The number of Dutch players in the field was also manageable for many years. In only the second year of the tournament, 2004, there was a Dutch winner: Roland Scholten, who was the only Dutchman in the tournament at the time. Three more Dutch champions followed: Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen, and Danny Noppert. In addition, there have been three Scottish and one Belgian tournament winners. Besides Gary Mawson, there has only been one non-European finalist over the years – Australian Corey Cadby in 2018.
This year, even before the quarterfinals, it was difficult to decide who – besides most likely Luke Littler – would reach the final. I gave Krzysztof Ratajski the lowest chances, although he too had played a good tournament. But his quarterfinal opponent, Josh Rock, was considered somewhat stronger, and indeed the Pole lost despite averaging over 97. The second quarterfinal between James Wade and Rob Cross was not a particularly high-level match, but it was very close and therefore exciting. In the end, Wade narrowly edged out Cross 10-9 with better scoring and a higher doubles percentage. In the third quarterfinal, Luke Littler and Danny Noppert faced off – Noppert would have had to play exceptionally well to win. The Dutchman lost 6-10. To conclude the day, there was an all-Welsh duel between Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price. It was certainly a tough match for both, but Price got into the game faster and Clayton initially seemed outmatched. He did lose in the end but eventually found his rhythm and the match became much more exciting.
Once again, a draw was made – Price would face Wade in the first semifinal, followed by Rock against Littler.
The first semifinal was an outstanding match – arguably the best of the entire tournament. Price started stronger and Wade initially struggled on the doubles. Only after the first break did he begin to dominate the increasingly frustrated Price. Price, who had started so strongly, completely lost his rhythm for a few legs, probably because Wade, as the commentators put it, was practically unplayable. Price had a few better legs but remained outmatched, and Wade advanced to the final with an 11-8 victory.
In the second semifinal, favorite Luke Littler struggled to find his rhythm at the start, missing his doubles. By the second break, Littler had rallied, leveling the score at 5-5. Rock even managed to take a 9-7 lead, but then his form dipped. Littler capitalized on his opportunities and secured the last four legs of the match.
And so, we had the same final pairing as last year – James Wade versus Luke Littler. Wade started poorly, and just like last year it looked as though he was headed for a crushing defeat. Wade’s scoring was off, and his doubles had eluded him. However, Wade improved slightly, hitting more doubles and leveling the score a few times. But at 7-7, Littler turned up the heat and pulled away to an 11-7 victory, successfully defending his title.
Overall, it was a pretty good tournament, although not particularly exciting given Littler’s dominance. I also missed seeing the underdogs, who often make it to the later rounds in this tournament. All the quarterfinalists were players from the top 32, six of them even in the top 12. All the amateur qualifiers were eliminated early, which took some of the edge off the tournament. Nevertheless, there were many close and exciting matches and many great performances – and I certainly would not have correctly predicted the quarterfinalists. Although, of course, that is really difficult with this format.
