The first stage of the Ballmaster Open finals was real banging. There were three 300-games and that means there will be a one ball tie breaker after the tournament TV-final. These fireworks took the attention away from the final itself for a while.

The first one to celebrate a full line was Gery Verbrucken from Belgium in game two. In the fifth game there were two perfectos: Sascha Hauchwitz from Germany and Tomas Leandersson of Sweden. In the same game Mika Koivuniemi started with seven strikes, but he had to settle for 279. Hauchwitz had not paid the entry fee for the 300-eXtra, but Verbrucken and Leandersson had. This means that there will be a tiebreaker for the 7200 euro.

In the final Verbruggen took lead with his early 300-game. He kept his position almost to the end of the stage. In the last game Dominic Barrett of England banged a 279 game and passed Gery by six pins for 1880. On third position after eight games is qualification winner Mike Fagan behind a small gap.

The cut was also made by Tomas Leandersson, Parker Bohn III, Mika Koivuniemi, Osku Palermaa, to mention few, so there will be a tough final.

For Finns it is pleasing that some young players made it to the top 16. Tony Ranta is on sixth position and Mika Heino right behind him. Joonas Jehkinen also made the cut. Only one woman continues the tournament, Cherie Shi Hua Tan from Singapore.

The final will continue with 16 game round robin, after which top four bowlers will play a stepladder in TV.