Littler suffers another setback with semi-final exit at PC28

Luke Littler's aspirations to qualify for the Players Championship finals were dealt another blow as he lost in the semi-finals of PC28 in Leicester. The world champion narrowly missed out on the title, which was won by fellow Englishman Luke Humphries in an 8-6 victory against Brendan Dolan. Humphries, currently the world number two, praised Littler for his consistent performance over the past 18 months, stating that he deserves the world number one position.

Humphries added that he is the only one who will stand in Littler's path to potentially securing a major victory this year. Littler, however, remains optimistic, posting on Instagram that he and his team are "on the move." Despite his recent setback, Littler's world number one ranking places him in contention for the November finals and the calendar sweep of ranking events in 2026.

With only the top 64 players qualifying for Minehead, Littler currently trails 64th-placed Shane McGuirk by £16,750. Littler has chosen to skip the initial 26 events on the circuit to manage his schedule effectively. With seven events left and a projected cutoff expected to surpass £30,000, Littler might travel to Den Bosch next month to strengthen his chances of reaching the finals.

The two remaining events in Leicester on November 4 and 5 will complete his qualification stage. Littler had previously defeated Benjamin Pratnemer, Martin Schindler, and Krzysztof Ratajski to reach the final four, where he unfortunately fell short against Northern Irishman Dolan.