21st June, Macau: 2019 H.H. Emir Cup champion, Wu Siu Hong led Hong Kong to a 1-2-3 finish in the Men's Open Round 1 Masters finals of the 2019 Macao-China International Open ahead of Lau Kwun Ho in second and James Lui in third.

Lui got off the 8-games block with a cracking 267 in his opening game to lead Hong Kong's Leung Yuk Fung by eight pins as two-time champion Yannaphon Larpapharat of Thailand and Tomoyuki Sasaki of Japan also registered high games to stay with the leading duo.

The pace-setter added another sizzling 268 to stretch his lead to 32 pins with Leung in second. Lui kept a strong pace with back-to-back 240s to extend his lead to 64 pins at the halfway mark. And adding 227, 234 and 207 in his next three games, it looked he would easily win the round.

His team-mates, Lau Kwun Ho and Wu Siu Hong were the only opponents to stay close to the leader and at once stage had threatened his lead. As it turned out, Lui stumbled to a poor 157 in his final game to give Wu the victory.

Wu amassed a total of 1866 to take the round followed by Lau in second with 1854. Lui settled for third spot with 1852. China's Wang Zhi Yong and Shusaku Asato of Japan completed the top five with 1841 and 1816.

Leung fizzled out to end the round in 14th position while Macau's Lei Hok Hin survived the cut in 18th position with 1737. Hong Kong's Chung Kwong Chuen and Japan's Yuki Tsutsumi both missed the cut by 19 pins sharing 19th position.

The top 18 finishers in this round advanced to Round 2 finals joined by the top 3 local and top 3 overseas seeded qualifiers for another 8 games. The top 6 with the highest pinfalls at the end of the round will proceed to the Stepladder Shootout finals.

The Women's Open Masters Round 1 finals will commence later this afternoon while the Men's and Women's Grade A Masters finals will be held late this evening.

Photos by Terence Yaw in Macau, China.