Littler made the stronger start to the match, quickly racing into a 4-0 lead in which he checked out 132 among other highlights, while van Gerwen struggled to find his rhythm early on and fell short of his usual standards.
From the fifth leg onwards, however, the Dutchman began to settle, checking out 121 to break back before capitalising on a missed double from Littler to narrow the gap to 3-4.
Match Centre: Michael van Gerwen vs. Luke Littler
Three more breaks followed, including a 115 checkout from Littler, putting "The Nuke" 6-4 ahead. The world champion, who averaged 104.84, never let that lead slip and sealed the match by checking out 50 as Van Gerwen’s average of 101.79 and a late 12-darter with a 108 checkout were not enough to change the outcome.
Just as in Bahrain, Littler began the tournament against the experienced Paul Lim, whom he once again defeated 6-1. That was followed by a repeat of the World Championship final against Gian van Veen – once again, the world champion came out on top, this time 6-4 with an average of 111.58. In a close semi-final, he edged out Gerwyn Price 7-5, who had beaten "The Nuke" just the day before.
Van Gerwen also started well, beating Indian player Nitin Kumar 6-1 in his opening match, but his average dropped to just under 88 in the quarter-final 6-4 win over Stephen Bunting. The three-time world champion then produced a much-improved performance in the semi-final, beating Nathan Aspinall 7-5 with a 100.28 average.
Leung secures Asia’s only win
Of all the Asian players competing in Riyadh, only Man Lok Leung managed to notch a victory. After all eight Asian Tour representatives were knocked out in the first round in Bahrain, the man from Hong Kong defeated Danny Noppert 6-3.
The Dutchman later explained on Instagram that he had "been ill for the past few days" and that it was "noticeable" on Monday.
The other seven first-round matches were one-sided – no Asian player managed to win more than two legs, with Alexis Toylo beaten 0-6 by Price.