Defending champion cruises to quarterfinals

21st April, Barnsley: PBA star and defending champion, Chris Barnes display masterclass skills to cruise into the quarterfinals of the PartyPoker.net World Tenpin Masters 2007 after defeating Zara Glover of England, 524-416 in the Round 1 knockout matches.  What a masterclass on the skills of tenpin for Chris Barnes and such a load of sympathy for Zara Glover for having to withstand such an onslaught. The PBA star had nine strikes in a row from the seventh frame of the first game through to the third of the second, then struck out for a 279 and an overall average over the two games of 262.

Nice work if you can get it and a shudder of horror for the rest of the field yet to compete in this fantastic tenth running of the World Tenpin Masters, sponsored once again by PartyPoker.net.

"I didn't think that I would score that well," commented Barnes after the match. "I had a slow start but the lanes got slicker and I really got locked in."

Zara Glover was understandably not too happy to go out in the first round for the fourth time. "I chose the wrong ball to start the first game," she said. "Things improved when I changed equipment but there was no way I was going to catch Chris."

Guy Caminsky faced something like a massacre as Osku Palermaa hit 13 strikes in a row, but it all changed as the South African changed bowling balls in the fourth frame of the second game and hit seven straight strikes to come home with a respectable score, albeit still 26 sticks adrift of the lithe two-handed Finn.

"Bowling in this atmosphere is not a lot more different to many of the finals I've bowled in," said Palermaa. "I was pretty well relaxed and was confident throughout the match."

Usually when you come up against injured players you tread very warily as the results can be very much against the grain. But that was not the case for the Australia versus Germany finale for Friday evening as Jens Nickel is really suffering from an injured knee and was unable to complete his usual smoot slide and delivery on the approach.

In fact, after the first few frames it began to look as though he might not be able to complete the two games. Having to stomp on his last step, Nickel was not able to get the rotation on his ball and was far from his usual accuracy.

Belmonte started with a 'washout' but then slotted into the strike pocket to take the first game with a 54 pin buffer. Once again, a change of bowling ball made the difference. This time it was to Nickel's advantage and he got back into the game with strings of strikes and would have won the last game but for an open frame. But he was still 58 pins short of Belmo's outstanding 494.

Detailed scores: Round 1 Matches | Quarterfinal Draw.

Photos courtesy of Bowlers Journal International.