Luke Littler’s bid to qualify for the Players Championship Finals suffered a further setback after Brendan Dolan beat him in the PC28 semi-finals in Leicester. Although Littler improved on his quarter-final exit at PC27, he remains well outside the qualifying places with only six events left, making his participation in further tournaments increasingly important.

Luke Humphries won PC28, beating Dolan 8-6 in the final, and praised Littler’s recent dominance despite aiming to prevent him completing a major-title clean sweep. Littler rose from 141st to 125th in the Players Championship Order of Merit after earning £10,500, but is still £16,750 behind 64th-placed Shane McGuirk; only the top 64 qualify for November’s finals in Minehead. Having missed the first 26 events to manage his schedule, the 19-year-old may now play in Den Bosch next month despite previously planning to contest only UK events.