Finn Mikko Hirvonen (pictured left) posted the first 1400-series in the 15th qualifying squad of the 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open Saturday afternoon at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

Hirvonen started his set with 225 and had the front 10 in game #2 to finish with 289. He added 244, 256, 181 and 212 to shoot into the lead in the overall Singles standings with 1408 pinfall total and an average of 234,67.

Lisanne Breeschoten, Netherlands, slipped one spot to second place with 1396 including 48 pins handicap, with David Canady, Germany, in third with 1393.

2007 Vienna Open champion and current No. 5 on the EBT rankings (the top 4 are all at the Weber Cup) Dennis Eklund, Sweden, had the second-highest series in Squad 15 to improve his score to 1379, good for fourth place overall.

PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss (1376), United States, sits in fifth place with 1376 followed by Timo Alho, Finland, with 1373. Norwegian Tore Torgersen  is 7th with 1359.

2008 USBC Queens champion and Clash of Champions winner, Lynda Barnes (above right), a long-time Team USA member, used high games of 254 and 256 to jump into 8th place with 1356.

Another 9 players cracked the 1300-bar in Squad 15: Anders Lousdal, Denmark; Marcus Zuber, Germany; Mai Ginge Jensen, Denmark; Manuel Mrosek, Germany; Paul Hutchinson, Denmark; Oliver Blasé, Germany; Diana Zavjalova (left), Latvia; Juha Immonen, Finland; Priscilla Maaswinkel (right), Netherlands.

Lari Marjamäki, Finland, holds the 52nd and final spot to advance with 1280 and an average of 213.33.

Thomas Larsen and 15-year-Austrian youth bowler Rowby Rodriguez refused to fall and remained atop the leaderboard with 2681 pinfall total and an average of 223.42 for six games.

Eklund and Torgersen (left, l-r) fell five pins short off the lead to move into second place with 2676. David Canady and Tina Hulsch slipped to third with 2645.

Barnes teamed with two-time world champion Clara Juliana Guerrero, Colombia (on the right), in Squad 15. They combined for 2632, exactly the same score Barnes had with Nicki Ainge, England, in Squad 11. Barnes/Guerrero moved into fourth and Barnes/Ainge fell to fifth due to the higher last game, 481 to 425.

Qualifying will continue on Saturday with two more regular squads at 4pm and 8pm and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad at 11.30pm.

The 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 11th stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Majors". The tournament will be held from Tuesday Sept. 29 through Sunday Oct. 4, 2009 at the renovated 32-lane Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

More than 340 players from 27 countries will compete for an increased total prize money of 68.130 Euro - 57.900 € in Singles and 10.230 € in Doubles. The singles champion will receive the 6.000 Euro top prize while the doubles winners will split 1.600.

Once again the qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a doubles tournament. Each duo rolls at least one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner.

The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap will be declared the winner (no finals will be played). The top 20 doubles will cash. Bigi Manico, Switzerland and Tanya Cuva (nee Petty) are the defending champion.

Qualifying runs from Tuesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night Oct. 3 slated for 11.30 pm local time (GMT +1). Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour.

 

A total of 64 players will qualify for the Vienna Open finals on Sunday, Oct.:
- 4:the top 52 players from the overall qualifying standings
- the first player each from Squad 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, who is not among the top 52 (total 6 players)
- and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

The top 8 qualifying leaders will bypass the first round of the finals.

The other 52 players will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 22, who will join the top qualifiers in Round Two.

Those 30 players will bowl another 6 games starting from scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 18, who will carry their pinfall forward into Round Three. After another 6-game block the top 4 with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, 100 ranking points and the 6.000 Euro top prize.

 

 

 

Related Articles

Women dominate Squad 14 in 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
German national team members Canady, Hulsch set the tone in Squad 13 at Vienna Open
Voss leads Squad 12 but no changes atop the Singles and Doubles leaderboard in Vienna
Nicki Ainge cracks top 8 in Squad 11 in 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss powers his way into the lead in 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
Petra Korkiamäki finishes Squad 8 with big game to take the lead in Vienna
Danes Stampe, Lousdal take the lead in Doubles and Singles at 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
Leo Grundschober cracks 1300-bar to lead Vienna Open after Day Two Qualifying
Anton Stiel beats high score by two pins to take the lead in Vienna
Tim Friedrich overtakes qualifying lead in 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
Ivonne Gross doubles in the 10th to bowl her way into the Vienna Open finals
Mirek Cifra leads second qualifying squad in 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
Franz Hahn secures his spot in the finals of 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
9-pin No-Tap Tournament kicks off 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss targets his second EBT title in Vienna
Clara Guerrero, Lynda Barnes to compete in 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
Live Coverage from the 7th Columbia 300 Vienna Open

 

 

Download the pdf files here

2009 Vienna Open Singles - Qualifying Standings after Squad 15 of 17
2009 Vienna Open Doubles - Standings after Squad 15 of 17
2009 Vienna Open Singles - Squad 15 Results
2009 Vienna Open Doubles - Squad 15 Results

 

 

2009 Vienna Open Singles - Qualifying Standings after Squad 15 of 17

 

 

2009 Vienna Open Doubles - Standings after Squad 15 of 17

 

 

2009 Vienna Open Singles - Squad 15 Results

 

 

2009 Vienna Open Doubles - Squad 15 Results