Wayne Mardle 'got it wrong' as Emma Paton rubs it in on Sky Sports after Luke Littler win

Darts pundit Wayne Mardle made a bold claim ahead of 's Grand Slam of Darts final against Martin Lukeman on Sunday night.

While Littler delivered with a dominant 16-3 win to lift the title, Mardle's prediction fell flat. The teenager blew Lukeman away with his scoring, averaging 107.08 to set up 35 darts at double, while his opponent only had six throughout the entire match.

So scintillating was Littler's form heading into Sunday's Grand Slam bonanza - which saw him take on Gary Anderson in the semi-finals and then Lukeman in the final on the same day - Mardle promised fans that they would see a nine-darter.

Littler put on an exhibition in Wolverhampton but the perfect leg eluded him, despite twice coming within one dart earlier in the tournament. After the finale, Sky Sports host Emma Paton said to Mardle: "We didn't get a nine-darter, you promised one tonight."

The four-time World Darts Championship semi-finalist hit back: "I did promise. The crowd went a bit wild when I suggested it, like it was all down to me." Paton responded: "It was!" To which Mardle said: "I get a lot wrong, you know, and I got that wrong as well. So what?"

Littler won all seven of his Grand Slam matches, sweeping through his group before battling through a high-octane knockout stage.

The 2007-born thrower was pushed all the way by Mike De Decker in the last 16, and again by Anderson in the semi-finals. On both occasions, Littler produced a miraculous comeback and prevailed in a last-leg decider.

Mardle has revealed that 'The Nuke' is forcing him to reconsider his core beliefs as a darts expert. "Against De Decker it was improbable that he would win the game, then he did it against Gary too. He was in a dire situation both times," he told .

"And both times the opposition didn't falter - he got better. He is so good when he needs to be good, and the world's best players do that. They used to talk about needing experience but I don't believe in any of that anymore for one reason: when you're good enough, you're good enough.

"All the experience, it doesn't matter. Look at Eric Bristow when he was a teenager. Michael van Gerwen. Now Luke Littler. He can do anything, we know that. But what we're seeing this time is that he's doing it again and again."