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Littler could face Sherrock in World Darts Championship opener

Luke Littler made it to last year's final
Luke Littler made it to last year's finalTom Dulat / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / Getty Images via AFP
Luke Littler could face Fallon Sherrock in his opening match of this year's World Darts Championship after Monday's draw revealed the early match-ups for the upcoming Alexandra Palace tournament.

Littler made it all the way to the final last time out, where he was beaten by Luke Humphries, and enters this year’s edition as the number four seed.

Littler is one of 32 seeds who will enter the tournament at the second round, with 96 players in total bidding for the Sid Waddell Trophy and the £500,000 top prize.

The remaining 64 players will contest the first round, with the 32 winners to take on the 32 seeds in the second round.

Sherrock has drawn Ryan Meikle in the first round, with the winner facing the prospect of taking on the red-hot Littler in his first outing of the tournament.

The remaining top-five seeds sees defending champions Humphries, 2023 champion Michael Smith and three-time champion Michael van Gerwen joined by 2018 champion Rob Cross.

Number-one seed Humphries, who is aiming to become the fourth player in history to defend his title after Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson, will take on either Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito in the second round.

Englishman Smith will take one of Dutch pair Kevin Doets and Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who is the first first transgender woman in history to qualify for the tournament.

The World Darts Championship begins on December 15, with the semi-finals and final taking place on January 2 and 3 respectively.

Click here to see the World Darts Championship bracket.

Second-round draw

Luke Humphries (1) vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito

Raymond van Barneveld (32) vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz

James Wade (16) vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont

Peter Wright (17) vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto

Stephen Bunting (8) vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt

Dirk van Duijvenbode (25) vs Madars Razma or Christian Kist

Damon Heta (9) vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb

Mike De Decker (24) vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan

Luke Littler (4) vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock

Ritchie Edhouse (29) vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing

Danny Noppert (13) vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas

Ryan Searle (20) vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell

Rob Cross (5) vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer

Gian van Veen (28) vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong

Nathan Aspinall (12) vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates

Andrew Gilding (21) vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar

Michael Smith (2) vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Krzysztof Ratajski (31) vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo

Chris Dobey (15) vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx

Josh Rock (18) vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin

Jonny Clayton (7) vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto

Daryl Gurney (26) vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey De Zwaan

Gerwyn Price (10) vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry

Joe Culley (23) vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen

Michael van Gerwen (3) vs James Hurrell or Jim Long

Brendan Dolan (30) vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee

Gary Anderson (14) vs Jeffrey de Graaf vs Rashad Sweeting

Ross Smith (19) vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida

Dave Chisnall (6) vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers

Gabriel Clemens (27) vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen

Dimitri van den Bergh (11) vs William O'Connor or Dylan Slevin

Martin Schindler (22) vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac