Finals Day

The change from the normal Malta Senior Open format this year sees the final day opening with the

men's and women's round robins.

The eight qualifiers in each division carry forward fifty per cent of the pinfall from the earlier qualifying rounds and will receive bonus points for games won, games over 200 and extra for games over 249.

After the seven games the leading four will advance to the stepladder final, a one-game knockout format.

Fans around the world can watch progress by switching to: www.bambuser.com/channel/talktenpin.

Defending champions Rosario Bellomonthe of Italy and England's Liz Pond are both in contention and the men's group also includes 2008 champion Chris Vandamme.

Consistent bowling from Hermann Wimmer brought him the top seed position after the seven round robin games and six wins, losing just the one game to Roger Olofsson of Sweden. 2008 champion Chris Vandamme placed second and defending champion Rosario Bellomonte third. The fight for fourth place went in favor of Finn Rauli Raita to complete the line-up for the stepladder final.

In the women's division it was was defending champion Liz Pond in second place after Finland's Hannele Uotila  took first place. Inger Peterson of Sweden in third place takes on England's Liz Griffin in the opening match of the one-game knockout rounds.

STEPLADDER FINALS - WOMEN:

The stepladder finale opened with Inger Peterson of Sweden playing England's Liz Griffin in the one-game knockout round.

It was the Swede who emerged the victor, 206-169, including age bonuses and she advanced to the second round to play defending champion Liz Pond, also from England. Pond kept her chances of a double alive by defeating the Swede, 199-193, in

a close-fought match.

The final, between Pond and Hannele Uotila of Finland, become a one-sided affair as Uotila put on pressure with three strikes in the fifth to seventh frames and then take the 2010 title, 206-169.

Uotila, from Espoo in Finland, bowling in her fifth Malta Senior Open, remarked: "I have been lucky enough to place high in all five events so I have made money for the trips to Malta." She also won the British Open way back in 1988.

STEPLADDER FINAL - MEN:

With the defending champion Rosario Bellomonte of Italy and last year's runnner-up and 2008 champion Chris Vandamme in the quartet, the men's final was eagerly anticipated by the crowd of onlookers. However, Bellomonte was defeated in the first game by Rauli Raita of Finland in a squeaker, 183-180.

Raita then met Vandamme and was slaughtered, 258-182, to set up a final 'twixt Germany and Belgium as Hermann Wimmer came on stage. Hopes of similar scores from Vandamme in the title match were dashed as Wimmer started with three strikes to which Vandamme had no effective reply and Wimmer took his first Malta title, 211-182.

Final standings: 1. Hermann Wimmer, Germany; 2. Chris Vandamme, Belgium; 3. Rauli Raita, Finland; 4. Rosario Bellomonte, Italy; 5. Roger Olofsson, Sweden; 6. Stig Hermansson, Sweden; 7. Brian Wilkins, England; 8. Jean Usan, France

Women: 1. Hannele Uotila, Finland; 2. Liz Pond, England; 3. Inger Peterson, Sweden; 4. Liz Griffin, England; 5. Berit Karlsson, Sweden; 6. Jan Hodge, England; 7. Angie Brown, England; 8. Kaz Barfoot, England.

ROUND ROBINS: