Last week’s opening World Series event in Bahrain saw all eight PDC ‘superstars’ progress through the first round, but the opening two games of the night ensured that was not the case in Den Bosch.
World number four Nathan Aspinall and two-time world champion Peter Wright were outclassed, both losing 6-2 to Danny Noppert and Kevin Doets respectively in front of a jubilant crowd.
Wales’ Gerwyn Price ended the run with a 6-3 win over defending Dutch Masters champion Dimitri van den Bergh, but 21-year-old Gian van Veen then shocked a below-average Michael Smith to win 6-3.
Van Veen, like Doets, is playing in his first World Series event and lost to Littler in the World Youth Championship final in November.
The Dutch domination continued as five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld recovered from going an early break down to beat Rob Cross in a final-leg decider, ensuring at least one Dutch player will be in the final.
Michael van Gerwen then won 6-1 in an all-Dutch affair against best friend and the best man at his wedding, Vincent van der Voort.
The tournament concludes with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on Saturday from 18:00 GMT, with live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app and live TV coverage on ITV3.
