Swiss youngster Mathieu Berges (left) had games of 224, 243, 224, 233, 204 and 193 to lead qualifying squad 22 in the Maribor Open on Friday evening with 1321 six-game total and an average of 220.17.

Berges had the highest official pinfall total but wasn't the best player in this squad. Dirk Völkel (right), who served as a pacer, used high games of 299 and 279 for a 1407 series, a 234.5 average. However, the German remained in 24th place with a 1312 series.

The only other player in this squad, who reached the 1300-plateau, was Asgeir Thordarson from Iceland.

Thordarson (left), who rolled the tournament's first 300 game in Squad 21 but finished with 1276, only 76 pins over par based on a 200 average, improved his high score by 34 pins (1310).

Berges moved into 19th place in the overall qualifying standings while Thordarson overtook 25th place. Swede Martin Larsen (right) continued to lead the field of 88 players from 12 countries with 1512 pinfall total and an average of 252.00.

Qualifying continues on until Saturday evening and concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad around Midnight. A total of 56 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, Sep. 16: The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings and the top 4 Desperados.

Qualifiers 1-14 will earn two byes, while qualifiers 15-28 will bypass the first round only. The remaining 28 finalists will bowl 3 games starting from scratch The top 14 will qualify for the second round and meet qualifiers 15-28. The top 14 after another 3-game set from scratch meet the top 14 qualifiers in Round #3.

The field will be trimmed to 16, 8 and then 4 in Rounds 3 to 5 (same format as before). The four remaining players will bowl for the title and the 8.000 Euro top prize in a traditional stepladder format based on the standings after Round #5: No. 4 bowls No. 3, the winner meets No. 2 and the winner bowls No. 1 for the title.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Maribor all the way through to the finals on Sunday, September 16. The four-player stepladder finals will be broadcasted live on Slovenian television in a two-hour show from Strike Bowling Center.