Luke Littler fell narrowly short of his attempt to earn his third nightly win of this year's Premier League Darts as he fell to a 6-3 defeat to Gerwyn Price in Nottingham.
Price's victory against the odds was secured despite his lowly match average of 94.1 which fell well below Littler's 103.39.
"I mean the first game is always tough. You are scraping to get two points. Once I'd done that, I sort of relaxed a little bit," Price said.
"I did it against Michael [van Gerwen], but I wanted to get another win over Luke just to keep on top of him. He's the best player in the world at the minute and he's going to be for some years.
"I've sat on a table with James Wade and others and I praise him every single day, but I said that I think he will beat Phil Taylor's record at 16 world titles. There's nobody in the PDC at the minute that will stop him. Only the younger generation, JDC people that are going to stop him. We can't stop him, he will only get better and better."
"The Iceman" raced into a 3-0 lead as Littler struggled on the doubles despite his high scoring.
A hold of throw got him on the board at 3-1, but Price started the fifth leg with a 180 before later hitting treble 19, 16 and bullseye to restore his three-leg lead.
Littler won the next two to heap the pressure on the often-nervy Price, but with just 72 needed to draw level at 4-4, the 18-year-old world champion could not find double 20 after two consecutive 16s. Littler's misstep allowed Price to nail double 20 and move 5-3 ahead.
Perhaps sensing defeat, Littler left himself 170 and an attempt at landing the "big fish," but his aim failed him and Price took out 100 in two darts to secure victory on night six.
"I try to be more positive and it shows on the board," Price said. "The last couple of years I've been negative with myself. I've tried to be in the right place but it's hard. I'm glad to get another win over Luke because it won't last long."
Despite his defeat, Littler's run to the final moved him above world No. 1 Luke Humphries in the Premier League table.
Earlier on Thursday, Littler moved into the final with a typically impressive victory over Rob Cross.
Cross, who showed pinpoint accuracy in beating Chris Dobey in the previous round where he hit six out of seven doubles, started in good form. "Voltage" started the semifinal with a 180 before breaking Littler with a 12-dart break finished off with a bullseye.
Littler got himself back into the contest by checking out on 167 to bring the scores level at 2-2, before following it up with a 127 finish to increase the pressure on his opponent.
Cross held throw before Littler hit treble 20, treble 18 and the bullseye to land another 167 checkout and push his match average a touch above 109.
Nobody in the sport can live with the teenage superstar when he moves through the gears and so it proved again as Littler secured a 6-3 victory despite Cross' very respectable ton-plus average and 75% checkout percentage.
Littler overcame Humphries to set up the semifinal meeting with Cross.
Littler's 6-4 victory ensured he would end the night at least level on points with Humphries at the top of the Premier League table.
The defending Premier League champion was quick out of the blocks as he rattled off consecutive throws of 140, 180 and 141. They shared games before Littler failed to take out 25, handing an opportunity of a break to Humphries who gladly accepted the invitation by finding double 12.
But Littler broke straight back with a 110 finish before navigating a mammoth 164 checkout a couple of games later.
Humphries was not the same from that point on and Littler secured victory via the bed of double 20 to progress past his familiar foe.