In the last game of round-robin match play Friday, the top eight competitors in the men's and women's division were ranked by score and faced off to determine the final three who would battle for the title Saturday.

Belmonte went to a variety of styles, including a two-handed backup ball, while Hoffman tossed his spare ball down the middle of the lane for strikes. But in tomorrow's finals, both players will be all business.

"I was ahead of third place by so much that the last match really didn't matter," said Hoffman, a resident of Columbus, Ohio. "The real reason I was throwing my spare ball is because my strike ball is cracked around the fingers and I didn't want to do any more damage. I need it to last two more games."

Belmonte led the field after 40 games with 9,540, including bonus pins, after posting a 4-3-1 record in match play. Hoffman is second with 9,172 with a 6-2-0 record.

"I was just coming off a 300 game going into the last game and I had been really serious all day," Belmonte said. "I just wanted to relax and have a little fun before tomorrow's finals."

In the battle to determine the No. 3 seed for the stepladder finals, former Denny's PBA Tour exempt player Andres Gomez of Colombia and Michael Schmidt of Canada entered the position round separated by just 10 pins. Gomez defeated Schmidt 234-179 to hold onto the No. 3 position and advance.

Gomez will take on Hoffman in the first finals match Saturday and the winner will face Belmonte for the title.

The women's division came down to the final game to decide who would make the finals. Ann-Maree Putney of Australia won the top seed with 8,595 and the fight for the last two spots in the finals came down to the very last frames.

Germany's Tina Hulsch and Korea's Sun Hee Lee entered the position round in third and fourth places and bowled each other. They finished in a 216 tie to split the 30 bonus pins and both made the final round.

Malaysia's Sharon Koh lost to Putney 235-201 and fell from second to fourth in the last game, missing the finals by just 19 pins.

Saturday's finals will be televised live on Russian television and tape delayed on EuroSport throughout Europe.

For complete coverage of the World Cup, including stories, photos, player blogs, visit www.bowl.com.

43RD QUBICAAMF WORLD CUP
At St. Petersburg, Russia
Friday's results
(Position, name, country, match play record and 40-game total including bonus pins)

MEN
(Top 8)

1, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 4-3-1, 9,540. 2, Bill Hoffman, United States, 6-2-0, 9,352. 3, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 4-4-0, 9,008. 4, Michael Schmidt, Canada, 4-4-0, 8,913. 5, Paul Moor, England, 5-3-0, 8,909. 6, Petteri Salonen, Finland, 3-5-0, 8,863. 7, Marcelo Suartz, Brazil, 4-4-0, 8,827. 8, Thomas Gross, Austria, 1-6-1, 8,490.

WOMEN
(Top 8)

1, Ann-Maree Putney, Australia, 5-3-0, 8,745. 2, Tina Hulsch, Germany, 5-2-1, 8,508. 3, Sun Hee Lee, Korea, 4-3-1, 8,668. 4, Sharon Koh, Malaysia, 3-5-0, 8,649. 5, Ghislaine van der Tol, Netherlands, 4-4-0, 8,511. 6, Helen Johnsson, Sweden, 4-4-0, 8,558. 7, Aumi Guerra, Dominican Republic, 3-5-0, 8,391. 8, Piritta Kantola, Finland, 3-5-0, 8,351.