Luke Littler is a face of pure passion as he narrowly avoids the banana skin of the World Series

Luke Littler survived a major scare to beat Ryan Joyce in the World Darts Championship.

Littler won a thrilling fourth-round encounter against Joyce 4-3, although it wasn’t easy for the young talent.

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Although Littler scored high early on, he proved to be very fanatical about his payments.

After just two sets, Littler had missed 14 of 19 doubles attempts for a 26 percent rate.

As for Joyce, he had just five double-double attempts in the first two sets, but hit four of them.

The missed doubles continue to plague Littler, allowing Joyce to be the proverbial pest, constantly nipping at the 17-year-old’s heels.

That’s why Littler roared when he won the fifth set to take a 3-2 lead, knowing he was one round away from winning and advancing to the quarterfinals.

The drama continued in the sixth set as the pair continued to trade.

Littler had a chance to wrap things up with a match dart at D20 in the fifth and decider, but he missed.

Joyce jumped at the window of opportunity to make it a decision-making set, heightening the tension inside Alexandra Palace.

However, Littler ensured there would be no such upset, storming home with a wet sail to dominate the final set and emerge victorious in a roller-coaster match that lasted just 50 minutes.

Littler ended up with his highest three-dart average of the tournament at 103.14, eclipsing his second-round mark of 100.85.

The 17-year-old will now face his close friend Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals.

More to follow…