Luke Littler wins over Ally Pally crowd by cruising past Krzysztof Ratajski

Luke Littler got the Alexandra Palace crowd back on side as he sauntered into the World Championship semi-finals.

Littler was booed heavily during his fourth-round win over Rob Cross and antagonised the baying fans further when he crassly thanked them for paying for his substantial prize money.

The 18-year-old defending champion said he was “expecting the worst” for his quarter-final tie with Krzysztof Ratajski but had them in the palm of his hand after a virtuoso display.

There was a ‘Big Fish’ 170-checkout amid four ton-plus finishes, 10 180s and a 100.05 average as he claimed a masterful 5-0 victory in little over 30 minutes.

Although there were some boos as he walked towards the stage, the overwhelming response was positive and a rendition of ‘There’s only one Luke Littler’ before the match started will have put his mind at ease.

And the teenager deserves the adulation as he looks on an unstoppable course to becoming the first man to retain the World Championship since Gary Anderson 10 years ago.

Few can live with him and the scary thought for the rest of the field is that Littler has more gears to find ahead of his last-four date with Ryan Searle.

“The crowd were very good tonight. It’s the new year so there must be some new fans. They were great, I was good and we move on tomorrow,” he said on Sky Sports.

“A win is a win. Maybe because I had two days off, I didn’t feel comfortable.

“Hopefully now I am playing day after day, I play better tomorrow.

“When I was 2-0 up, I didn’t feel good. I’ve not played for two nights. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Anderson returned to the semi-finals for the first time in four years after ending Justin Hood’s dream debut run.

The 55-year-old is enjoying a renaissance and is now just two wins away from lifting a third world title, 10 years after his last.

If he can do so, he would become the oldest player to lift the PDC world title and join Michael van Gerwen in second place in the all-time list of champions.

After beating Van Gerwen on Tuesday night, Anderson looked every bit a potential champion as he dispatched Hood 5-2.

The Scot will now meet Luke Humphries or Gian van Veen in Friday’s semi-final, which will be his eighth last-four encounter at Ally Pally.

Littler’s opponent Searle had not dropped a set in reaching the last eight and again showed his class in a 5-2 victory over number five seed Jonny Clayton.

The 38-year-old’s run to the last four is made even more impressive by the fact he has Kjer’s optic neuropathy, an eye condition which means he often cannot see where the dart lands.

“It’s a hereditary condition, so I’ve passed it to both of my children,” he said. “My son doesn’t have it as bad as as me, but my daughter has it really bad.

“When it gets to about six feet, she can see, but after that her vision gets really bad, so she’s registered as visually impaired.

“So, if I can raise a lot of awareness for that and try and find a cure for it, that means a lot to me.”