Luke Littler edged out Beau Greaves before losing to Rob Cross at Players Championship 24 in Milton Keynes.
Littler was pushed to the brink by Greaves as he booked a place in the last 16, the pair forced into a deciding leg in their first meeting before the world champion squeezed to a 6-5 win.
Greaves, a three-time WDF women’s world champion, averaged 102 compared to Littler’s 96 and the pair split eight 180s during their absorbing clash.
Having advanced, Littler was undone by Cross in the next round, losing 6-4.
The 21-year-old Greaves had already sealed a memorable victory in the previous round when she claimed a 6-4 win over five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld.
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Luke Littler won the Australian Darts Masters to secure his third World Series of Darts title! Credit: ITV Sport
Jeffrey de Graaf secured his maiden PDC ranking title at the event, defeating Stephen Bunting 8-7 in a thrilling final.
The Dutch-born Swede, who had reached the final of Event Eight in March, produced one level better to become the first Swedish player to win a PDC ranking.
Despite Bunting racing to a 4-1 lead in the final, De Graaf won four consecutive legs to take a 5-4 lead, and clinched a last-leg decider.
Bunting had produced a string of great performances across the day, averaging over 99 in all seven of his matches.
The world No 4 began with a 6-3 win over Adam Hunt, following this with victories over Cam Crabtree and Sebastian Bialecki.
Greaves beat Raymond van Barneveld before her close match with Littler
He then defeated Brett Claydon 6-4, followed by a 6-1 victory over Rob Cross.
De Graaf squeezed through the opening round 6-5 against Adam Paxton, followed by a 6-4 win over Ryan Searle and another last-leg deciding win against Jose de Sousa.
The Swede then defeated former World Champion Michael Smith 6-2 in the last 16, before comfortable 6-1 and 7-2 wins against Alan Soutar and Scott Williams respectively put De Graaf in just his second Players Championship final.
Michael van Gerwen was also eliminated in the last 16 at the hands of Scott Williams, despite recording an average of 107.97 in his 6-3 defeat.
