SASKATOON — It’s time for playoffs in the HearingLife Canadian Open at Merlis Belsher Place.
Watch live on watch.rockchannel.com or Sportsnet and keep it here all Saturday for updates.
MEN’S QUARTERFINALS
Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat holds the top spot on the men’s side and will meet Team Joël Retornaz of Italy.
Mouat drew for two in the first to grab a 2-0 lead.
Retornaz eliminated Scotland’s Team Kyle Waddell 9-8 in a tiebreaker to qualify for the playoffs.
Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs takes on Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte.
Whyte made a bump to score two points in the first and a 2-0 lead.
Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller plays Germany’s Team Marc Muskatewitz.
Schwaller settled for a single in the first.
Canada’s Team Brad Gushue goes up against Team John Shuster of the United States.
Gushue got on the board first with a steal, as Shuster faced four counters and cut the damage down to one with an open hit.
WOMEN’S QUARTERFINALS
Japanese curling is having a moment at the HearingLife Canadian Open.
Three Japanese teams advanced to the semifinals of a Grand Slam of Curling tournament for the first time in series history.
Team Satsuki Fujisawa eliminated Canada’s Team Rachel Homan 5-4, Team Momoha Tabata topped No. 1 seed Team Seung-youn Ha of South Korea 7-6 in an extra end and Team Sayaka Yoshimura eliminated Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson 9-6.
Fujisawa and Tabata will face in the semifinals, with Yoshimura set to meet Team Silvana Tirinzoni after the Swiss squad downed China’s Team Wang Rui 7-4.
Two streaks came to an end for Homan, as her Ottawa-based club had won the past three Grand Slam of Curling women’s titles and reached a record eight consecutive finals.
Homan started strong, drawing for a deuce in the first and forcing Fujisawa to a single in the second, but back-to-back steals in the third and fourth put the Kitami-based club into the lead.
The 20-time Grand Slam champ Homan missed on an opportunity to score more than a single in the fifth.
Fujisawa drew to the button for a point in the sixth and put the pressure on in the seventh to sit four counters, with two close together in the four-foot circle. Homan surrendered one to trail by two and retain the hammer coming home.
Homan was only able to tack on a single in the eighth.
Meanwhile, Team Tabata trailed by two after fourth Miku Nihira’s last rock of the sixth end flashed through the rings. Nihira bounced back big time in the seventh, throwing through the port to hit and score three right back. Ha was limited to a single in the eighth, and Nihira scored the OT winner.
Both Ha and Einarson entered the playoffs undefeated, while Tabata and Yoshimura won morning tiebreakers to clinch the final two playoff spots. Tabata beat South Korea’s Team Bo-bae Kang 6-4 and Yoshimura thumped Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg 7-1 in an Olympic preview.
Einarson opened with the hammer for the first time this week in the quarterfinals and was looking to make a runback to potentially score three points in the first against Yoshimura. She had to settle for a single, as her shooter grazed a guard along the way and didn’t connect on the raise at the right enough angle, as Yoshimura’s rock remained for the second shot.
Yoshimura hit for two points in the second and stole three in the third to grab a 5-1 advantage as Einarson whiffed on the runback, taking out two of her own stones.
Einarson recovered and made an angle raise bump on the staggered rocks to remove Yoshimura’s stone at the back and score three.
After Yoshimura took two in the fifth, Einarson made a tricky hit for a single in the sixth.
Yoshimura’s first skip stone in seven flashed through the house, but she intentionally threw away her last to not risk surrendering more than a point.
Yoshimura tacked two on the board in the eighth for insurance.
Tirinzoni came out strong with a three-ender in the first and took two in the fourth to lead 5-2 at the break.
It was just singles back and forth from there, as Pätz doubled out Wang’s rocks in the eighth.
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Tiebreakers: 9:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. CT
• Tabata 6, Kang 4
• Yoshimura 7, Hasselborg 1
• Retornaz 9, Waddell 8
Women’s Quarterfinals: 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT
• Tabata 7, Ha 6 (extra end)
• Fujisawa 5, Homan 4
• Yoshimura 9, Einarson 6
• Tirinzoni 7, Wang 4
Men’s Quarterfinals: 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT
• Mouat vs. Retornaz
• Jacobs vs. Whyte
• Y. Schwaller vs. Muskatewitz
• Shuster vs. Gushue
Men’s and Women’s Semifinals: 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT
• Women’s Semifinal: Fujisawa vs. Tabata
• Women’s Semifinal: Tirinzoni vs. Yoshimura
• Men’s Semifinals TBD