Rachel Homan remained perfect at the Grand Slam of Curling’s season-ending Players’ Championship with a 7-4 win over Sweden’s Isabella Wrana in Thursday’s early draw.
Homan’s Ottawa rink had back-to-back one-point steals in the sixth and seventh ends to come out on top in what had been a back-and-forth affair up to that point.
Homan improved to 3-0, which was good for second in the women’s standings behind Silvana Tirinzoni. The Swiss skip improved to 4-0 with a 7-3 win over Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., in Thursday’s second draw.
Homan, who led Canada to a world women’s curling title last month, was scheduled to face Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg in Thursday’s fourth and final draw in a rematch of this year’s Canadian women’s championship final.
Jones, a six-time Canadian champion, two-time world champion, Olympic gold medalist and 17-time Grand Slam winner, is stepping away from four-player curling after this tournament.
Wrana rebounded with an 8-7 win over fellow Swede Anna Hasselborg (1-2) in Thursday’s afternoon draw to improve her record to 3-1. The game was tied 7-7 after seven ends, but Wrana had the hammer in the eighth and made it count.
In other results from the afternoon session, Mike McEwen improved to 3-0 after scoring one in an extra ninth end for a 6-5 win over fellow Winnipegger Matt Dunstone (1-2). McEwen’s team is the last unbeaten side in the men’s competition.
Scotland’s Bruce Mouat came back from a 5-3 loss to Brendan Bottcher with a 7-5 win over world men’s champion Niklas Edin of Sweden. The result improved Mouat’s record to 3-1 while Edin dropped to 1-2.
South Korea’s Kim Eunjung (3-1) picked up her second win of the day, defeating Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes 4-3. Lawes saw her record drop to 0-3.
Earlier in Thursday’s second draw, men’s world silver medalist Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., improved to 2-1 with a 6-1 win over Calgary’s Kevin Koe (1-2); Italy’s Joel Retornaz (2-2) scored an 8-4 win over Scotland’s James Craik (1-2); and Stefania Constantini of Italy (1-2) posted an 8-5 win over Japan’s Satsuke Fujisawa (1-3).
In the other morning draw games, Scotland’s Ross Whyte (2-1) scored five over the first two ends in a 7-2 win over Dunstone, and Kim posted an 8-1 rout of Gim Eun-ji (2-1) in a showdown of South Korean squads.