Swede Dennis Eklund (pictured left) and nine-time PBA champion Mika Koivuniemi (right) of Finland became the second and third player in the 5th QubicaAMF Open 2011 who cracked the 1500-bar Friday at bowling center Gladiator Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Eklund, a two-time European Bowling Tour titlist, had game of 218, 288, 267, 226, 258 and 265 in Squad 7 on Friday afternoon to jump into second place in the overall qualifying standings with 1522 six-game total and an average of 253.67.

Eklund's compatriot Mathias Årup (left) continued to lead the field of 135 players from 22 countries with 1530 and an average of 255.

Koivuniemi, who rolled the first of three 300 games (Årup and Brian Voss had the others) on Thursday, improved on his high series of 1477 when he led Squad 8 with 1511 (251.83) but remained in third place. The frontrunner in the 2010-11 PBA Tour Player of the Year race had games of 246, 257, 259, 237, 277 and 235.

PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss (right), United States, slipped to fourth place with 1487. Former PBA exempt player Tore Torgersen was second to Eklund in Squad 7 with a high game of 266 and three 250-plus games to overtake fifth place with 1483.

Joline Persson-Planefors (left), Sweden, missed the fourth 300 game of the tournament by a whisker when she left a 9-pin standing for 299. Persson, who started her six-game series in Squad 8 with 178, 212 and 201 scratch, closed things out with 258 and 268 (825 for the last three games) for 1416 scratch (236 ave.) and 1464 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour. Persson is currently the best of 30 women in sixth place.

Seven-time PBA champion Robert Smith (right), United States, who now lives in Hong Kong, China, fell to seventh place with 1463. PBA champion Osku Palermaa, Finland, who has won the Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open in Munich, Germany, last weekend topped his previous high series of 1435 by 27 pins in Squad 7 but slpped to eighth place with 1462.

Martin Larsen of Sweden is ninth with 1456. Rounding out the top 10 is Mai Ginge Jensen (left), Denmark, behind a 1442 in Squad 8. Jensen topped Lisanne Breeschoten (also 1442), Netherlands, thanks to the higher last game, 234 to 225.

Jesper Agerbo (right), Denmark, led Squad 9 on Friday night with 1440 including high games of 267 and 259, good for 12th place overall. PBA exempt player Chris Loschetter, United States, used a 298 game to move into 14th place with 1414.

The best Slovenian player on the fourth penultimate qualifying day and second-best overall was 13-year-old Nino Stenko (left), who had games of 207, 201, 163, 233, 257 and 233 in Squad 9 to move into 45 place with 1294 and an average of 215.67.

With nine out of 13 qualifying squads in the books, Roman Fürbacher (right), Austria, is the "man on the bubble" in 30th place with 1335 and an average of 222.50.

Qualifying continues on Saturday with Squads 10-13 scheduled for 9 a.m. 1, 5 and 9 p.m. CET and concludes with the Desperado Squad slated for Midnight.

The 5th QubicaAMF Open 2011 is the 7th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the fourth out of seven EBT "Silver" tournaments this season. The tournament will be held from April 5-10, 2011at 28-lane bowling center Gladiator Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia and offers total prize fund of 43.400 Euro with 6.000 Euro going to the winner, 3.000 to the runner-up and 2.000 to the third place finisher.