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Luke Littler has opened up about a troublesome heckler who tried to disrupt his commanding performance at the Winmau World Masters in Milton Keynes.

The teenage sensation stormed into the quarter-finalswith an impressive 4-1 victory over Ross Smith, but had to battle through constant interference from a spectator positioned near the stage. The World Champion appeared to glance towards the troublemaker after clinching the opening set, and revealed afterwards that the disruption was so blatant even his opponent spotted it.

Littler said: "Obviously, it's the tournament I've not won and like I said yesterday, just keep your head down, don't react to anything. A few things in the crowd again at the very front. And even Ross said when we went off at 3-1, he's an idiot, that guy, whoever it was. I didn't know who it was, but it was just throughout the game.

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"So even Ross obviously seen it, but like I said at the Worlds, just don't react and get the job done."

The 17 year old maintained his composure throughout, refusing to let the distraction derail his progress. Security approached him after the second set to enquire about the incident, but Littler brushed it off reports the Daily Record.

"I mean, obviously, if I'm winning, then it doesn't really matter. After the second set, one of the security came over to me and said: What did he say? And I just said: Oh nothing. It doesn't really matter. I've won the set, it doesn't really matter."

Littler acknowledged there's little security can actually do to help, explaining: "I think, obviously, it could make it worse at times. Obviously, we've seen in the Premier League last year, me and Luke [Humphries], when [ref] Kirk [Bevins] said stop whistling and everyone started whistling. I go on and miss doubles and Luke takes the leg. I don't think he was aware of it, but obviously, me and Ross were, but I got the job done. That's all that matters."

The disturbance clearly didn't throw Littler off his game as he came close to smashing average records during his win, setting up a quarter-final clash with Josh Rock.

He admitted: "I think I always want to break records. Obviously, if you put a big number in like I have just there, then that's always a positive moving into the next round. We can only build on it, I can go again and now I'm thinking of trying to break the record tomorrow.

"I think I was 117 and then dropped down 10 points. But yeah, you've just got to think of it then. You've got the win, so that's all that matters. It got a bit scrappy at the end there. Ross even said to me, the first three sets, I was playing a robot. Obviously, then he deserved his set and then just to close it out."