LUKE ‘The Nuke’ Littler faced Jose de Sousa in the first round of the Belgian Darts Open tonight.

He produced heroics in the decider on his European Tour debut to go through to Saturday’s second round, finally winning 6-5 after all legs had gone with the throw until the killer 11th.

The Warrington 17-year-old held his nerve when it mattered most, while his opponent crumbled and was finally broken by Littler at the Oktoberhallen in Wieze.

‘The Nuke’ threw two of his eight 180s in the final showdown, while De Sousa felt the pressure and managed just seven on one of his visits to the oche.

Littler did what he had to do comfortably, signing off with his favourite double 10 as he ended the match on a near 102 average against his rival’s 95.13.

He seemed to have more of his mojo about him, showing improvement from the previous night's semi-final exit to Michael Smith in the semi-finals of Premier League Darts Night 6 in Brighton.

Littler was on for a nine-darter in leg six, throwing seven perfect arrows before being an inch wide of the treble 19 he needed.

And he nailed a 121 checkout to level matters again at 4-4 to whet the appetite of what is to come over the next day or two.

De Sousa had 121 and 103 checkouts of his own as he went leg-for-leg with the Warringtonian.

The teenager progresses to face Polish number one Krzysztof Ratajski in Saturday night’s session at the Oktoberhallen.

He started out as one of 48 players battling it out for the £30,000 top prize and the first European Tour title of the year.