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Luke Littler beat Peter Wright, Michael Smith and Rob Cross on his way to winning the Polish Masters in 2024.
Tom Mallows
BBC Sport journalist
Luke Littler began the defence of his Polish Masters title with a battling 6-4 win over Karel Sedlacek on the opening night in Gliwice.
The world champion lost the opening leg and despite immediately levelling, struggled to shake off the spirited Czech, who then twice levelled at 2-2 and 3-3.
The 18-year-old Littler eventually pulled clear, including a fine 120 checkout to make it 5-3.
Even then Sedlacek missed a double 16 to take the match to a deciding leg, with Littler hitting double top to seal the success.
He will play Nathan Aspinall in Saturday's quarter-final after he beat Radek Szaganski by the same score.
Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen also beat Croatia's Pero Ljubic 6-4, while Stephen Bunting overcame Tytus Kanik 6-3.
There were victories too for Chris Dobey and Welshman Gerwyn Price, but Jonny Clayton went out after a 6-3 loss to Krzysztof Ratajski.
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