22nd June, Macau: Yuhi Shinbata of Japan won the Men's Open Round 1 Masters finals of the 2018 Macao-China International Open ahead of Saudi Arabia's Hassan Al Shaikh in second and Thailand's Kim Bolleby third at COTAI Bowling Center.

2014 and 2015 Macao-China Open champion, Tomoyuki Sasaki got off the block with a sizzling 279 only to lead desperado squad qualifier, James Lui of Hong by one pin. Several finalists also posted big games with first perfect gamer, Shoumick Datta of India firing 277 and Bolleby 266.

But Sasaki's lead was immediately overtaken by 2017 Penang Pesta champion, Ryan Lalisang after the latter posted consistent games of 257 and 256. Jimmy Cheung of Hong Kong trailed in second by 3 pins as Sasaki slipped down to third.

Another strong game from Lalisang allowed the Indonesian to extend his lead over Chueng to 28 pins. Al Shaikh and Bolleby stayed closed in third and fourth positions. Lalisang held on to the lead for another game with 248 before stumbling to a poor 187 in the fifth game.

The Saudi remained in third and Lalisang slipping down to fourth position. Al Shaikh led for the next two games before the 24-year-old Shinbata ended strongest with 276 to win the round with 1943.

Al Shaikh settled for second with 1901 while Bolleby, who also ended strongly with 268, clinched third spot with 1877 and Rezaldy finished fourth position with 1870. Chueng rolled the tournament's third perfect game in the eighth to complete the top 5 with 1852.

First perfect gamer, Shoumick Datta was the cut in 18th position with 1752. Newly-crowned Senior Masters champion, Mi Zhong Li of China missed the cut by 22 pins to finish 19th position with 1730. The top 18 advanced to Round 2 finals joined by the three local and three overseas seeded qualifiers.

They will contest Round 2 finals from scratch and the top 6 with a highest pinfall will proceed to the Stepladder shootout finals. The Women's Open Masters Round 1 finals will commence later today and the Graded Masters finals tonight.