The American produced superb scores of 266, 236, 248 and 227 in his final four blocks for a total of 2,719.

It allowed him to leapfrog Sweden's morning leader Peter Hellstrom by the slenderest of three-point margins. 

Via finished on an average of 226.58 across his 12 games.

Hellstrom's was 224.75.

Another American in John Janawicz qualified in third place after scoring 2,687 with an average of 224.75.

Annop Arromsaranon of Thailand placed fourth on 2,642.

Three players were tied on 2,636: Malaysia's Rafiq Ismail, Finland's Joonas Jahi and Sweden's Martin Paulsson.

Paulsson endured a disappointing day after beginning in second place. 

Three sub-200 games of 197, 194 and 185 saw him plummet down the leaderboard.

The top 32 players all progress to the knockout stage.