LUKE 'The Nuke' Littler now knows who he will be up against as the knockout stages get underway in the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts 2024.

By finishing top of Group F in Wolverhampton, the in-form 17-year-old will face the runner-up of Group E - and that's Mike de Decker.

The German, who pulled off a major surprise by winning this year's World Grand Prix, destroyed St Helens thrower Michael Smith 5-0 in his final group game on Tuesday night to book Thursday's shootout with the Warrington superstar.

Littler went on stage for his third and final group game on Tuesday night determined to enjoy himself and turn it on for the crowd.

He said before squaring up with PDC Asian champion Lourence Ilagan that he saw this particular contest as a 'free hit', having already qualified to the knockout stage thanks to his group thrashings of Keane Barry and Demetri Van den Bergh over the weekend.

'The Nuke' was seen singing along with the crowd's rendition of 'There's only one Luke Littler' during the practice and he continued to milk the audience during play, using his finger as an orchestra conductor's baton.

It seemed that the noisier the crowd got, the better Littler performed and the showman took a 2-0 lead in no time as he almost toyed with his opponent.

Perhaps it started to feel a little routine for the quietening fans and Littler's sizzling start was running out of fizz as the Filipino fought back to 2-2.

More than a few eyebrows started to raise as realisation set in that Littler is human after all.

But eager to please, 'The Nuke' restored his two-leg lead and teasingly set himself up for a 'big fish' finish, deliberately scoring low to leave himself with a 170.

Littler could only score 130 though on his next visit and Ilagan joined the party again as he brilliantly checked out on 148.

You just knew Littler wasn't in the mood to be upstaged though and eight perfect arrows set him up for a magical nine-darter. A pin would have been heard dropping as everyone held their breath but 'The Nuke' missed the double 12 with his next throw before completing the mission 5-3 on his next visit to the oche.