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Luke Littler is into the last 16 but fourth seed Stephen Bunting becomes the highest-ranked player to exit this year's PDC World Championship.

Luke Littler celebrates — Luke Littler has played 10 sets so far at this year's World Championship - and won them all [Getty Images]

World number one Luke Littler produced a dominant performance to book a spot in the last 16 at the PDC World Championship, but fourth seed Stephen Bunting became the highest-ranked player to exit this year's tournament.

Littler averaged more than 107 and lost just three legs in a 4-0 win over Austria's Mensur Suljovic, demonstrating why he is the man to beat at Alexandra Palace.

The 18-year-old from Warrington is bidding to retain his PDC world title - a feat that has not been achieved since Scotland's Gary Anderson won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016.

Littler was seeded to meet Bunting in the semi-finals, but the world number four was defeated in a deciding set by world number 63 and fellow Englishman James Hurrell.

Bunting, twice a semi-finalist at Alexandra Palace, was not at his best but found clinical ton-plus finishes at the right times to take the match all the way to a seventh set.

But Hurrell maintained a solid level of form throughout and emerged victorious, ending the match with a 100 checkout.

The 41-year-old is provisionally into the top 50 of the PDC world rankings as a result of his run at Alexandra Palace and his fourth-round opponent will be the winner of Sunday's match between Germany's Martin Schindler and England's Ryan Searle.

'The best I've felt' - Littler too strong for Suljovic

Leaving the stage at the end of the second set, Mensur Suljovic gestured that he had little chance of stopping Littler in the form he was showing [PA Media]

Some of the build-up to Littler's third-round match focused on how he would cope with Suljovic's slower style, which had irked the Austrian's second-round opponent Joe Cullen.

If there was any concern that it would be an issue for the teenager, that soon disappeared.

Suljovic did not have a dart at a double in any of the first seven legs, let alone win one. Leaving the stage at the end of the second set, he walked off with a big smile and his arms outstretched, as if to say to his followers that he had no answer to Littler's brilliance.

The former World Matchplay finalist eventually earned his first leg of the match in the third set, but Littler ensured his record of not dropping a set in this tournament would remain intact.

Littler told Sky Sports: "I'm really happy. The finishing was good - 71%, I don't think I've seen that in my PDC career.

"I felt so settled tonight. Mensur at his pace, I kind of got myself into a rhythm that matches it - slower than usual but it worked out.

"That's the best I've felt [at the World Championship], I think even last year's tournament and the one before that. That's the most I've been settled and it shows with the average, the finishing and the ton-plus checkouts."

Littler will play either Australia's Damon Heta or England's 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the fourth round.

Clayton outlasts Zonneveld to reach fourth round

In Saturday's afternoon session, fifth seed Jonny Clayton needed a deciding set to overcome world number 44 Niels Zonneveld.

The first six sets of a high-quality match all went with the throw, with Clayton moving in front of Zonneveld on three separate occasions.

The Dutch left-hander kept responding in an impressive display, but former Premier League champion Clayton found the key break of throw in the second leg of the deciding set before sealing victory.

Welshman Clayton, 51, was back in action after a 12-day break, having received a bye through to round three because his second-round opponent Dom Taylor was suspended for failing a drugs test.

In round four, Clayton will play Swedish debutant Andreas Harrysson, who defeated Germany's Ricardo Pietreczko 4-2 later on Saturday.

Luke Woodhouse, the 25th seed, defeated fellow Englishman Andrew Gilding 4-1 to reach the fourth round for the second successive year.

Woodhouse will next face Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski, who beat Dutchman Wesley Plaisier in a deciding set having trailed 3-1.

Six more third-round matches are scheduled for Sunday, with four former world champions - Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Cross - among those hoping to secure spots in the last 16.