Perfect birthday present for Wu Siu Hong, wins 7.000 Euro in Vienna Open

Wu Siu Hong from Hong Kong gave himself the perfect birthday present by scoring a 223-200 victory over defending champion Osku Palermaa from Finland en route to win the 4th Vienna Open powered by Columbia 300 and the 7.000 Euro top prize.

Siu Hong started out commandingly and reeled off five consecutive strikes to take a comfortable lead after five frames. The two-time Asian ranking champion opened the door for the Finn, who moved into second place in the European rankings, when he suffered back-to-back open frames in the sixth and seventh frame.

Palermaa (pictured right with his biggest fan, Rowby Rodriguez), who uses two hands to deliver his strike ball and is well known for his high speed spare ball, doubled twice in the third and fourth and in the seventh and eighth frame, but when he failed to strike in the ninth frame, the match was practically over.

Siu Hong stayed clean in the final three frames and finished with a strike to shut out his opponent. Palermaa received 4.000 Euro for finishing second and received 80 ranking points to narrow the gap to ranking leader Paul Moor from England to two points (553-551).

In the semi-finals, Siu Hong eliminated Finn Mika Luoto, 233-201, while Palermaa survived a nail-biter against Robert Andersson. The Swede missed a spare in the tenth frame an Palermaa closed the match with strike-spare for a 247-246 victory. L-.R Champion Wu Siu Hong, Osku Palermaa, VO Tournament 'Papili' Helmut Amstätter, Robert Andersson and Mika Luoto. Click on the image to enlarge it. Picture Lars Müller.

Both Andersson and Luoto received 2.400 Euro each for third and fourth place.


Siu Hong, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Sunday, had 'Lady Luck' on his side in the quarterfinals against Swiss Mathieu Berges. Needing a double in the tenth frame of the decider, the righthander thought he had already won the match after the first strike and threw his spare ball … straight into the pocket to get the vital second strike to win the game and the match, 231-224. Siu Hong, who has practiced with Robert Andersson two weeks prior to the Vienna Open, fell to the floor (pictured) when Andersson came to him to inform him about his mistake.