News Tour Challenge

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — A second-half surge propelled Kerri Einarson and her Canadian club to a 7-5 comeback victory Thursday against Seung-Youn Ha’s team from South Korea in the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

Team Einarson improved to a 2-1 record in the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season with one round-robin game to go Friday in a rematch of last year’s women’s final against Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa.

“We were just on the wrong side of the inch in the first half and the ice was different from yesterday and the game before,” Einarson said. “It just took us a bit to get comfortable with it and once we did, we got some rocks in some good spots, got some misses from them and had some opportunities to get back in that game.”

Trailing by three points after five ends, Einarson executed an amazing shot raising Ha’s rock across the four-foot circle to eliminate another and score four to pull ahead 5-4.

“Pretty exciting,” Einarson said. “It definitely boosts your confidence. We’re all throwing them really well, just getting a little unfortunate here and there and untimely misses. It definitely will help us going forward into tomorrow’s game.”

Ha was looking to draw for two points in the seventh but wrecked the shooter and had to settle for a single that tied it but gave the team from Gimli, Man., the all-important hammer for the final frame.

No final-stone heroics were needed this time, however, as Einarson already had control of the house and Ha (1-2) was unable to grab the two shot rocks.

Meanwhile, Homan also rallied late but fell 8-7 to Team Stefania Constantini of Italy. Constantini was up 7-2 until Homan pulled off an incredible double takeout in the seventh end to score an equalizing five points.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion Homan would still have to steal without the hammer in eight, but Constantini nailed the open hit to secure the victory instead.

Both teams now hold matching 2-1 records.

Team Jennifer Jones also climbed to a 2-1 mark with a 6-2 set over Team Kate Cameron (0-3) in an all-Manitoba matchup.

Jones, whose team is based in Winnipeg and Altona, jumped out to a 5-0 lead although it was a bit of a missed opportunity to start as she had a draw for three in the second but over-curled and had to settle for two. The point that got away came back in the third as Jones hit and rolled under cover on the button and stole the point as Cameron’s last rolled too heavy. Jones swiped two more points in the fourth when Cameron’s last sailed through.

Cameron, whose team is from Winnipeg, broke the shutout with a hit for a single in the fifth and stole one in the sixth after Jones hit and rolled too far. Still, Jones remained in control and tacked on another point in the seventh to put the game to bed.

Team Jones bounced back into the win column after a disappointing loss where they gave up a steal in an extra end to fall 6-4 to Team Homan on Wednesday.

“I think we had a good team chat yesterday after that game,” said Karlee Burgess, who throws third for Team Jones. “It could have gone either way, so it was pretty unfortunate. But we knew that we’d still have a chance and if we just come out and play our game and play how we’ve been playing, we thought we could get away with a win.

“I thought our energy as a team, coming off of a hard loss yesterday, was huge and we started off with a good end.”

Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg remains undefeated at 3-0 with a 5-4 victory over Canada’s Team Clancy Grandy 5-4. Grandy’s club from Vancouver has been eliminated from playoff contention at 0-3.

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HEARINGLIFE TOUR CHALLENGE: Scores/Standings | Draw Schedule | Broadcast Schedule

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TIER 2: DRAW 12 RESULTS

• Team Sturmay 7, Team Mooibroek 1

• Team Jeong 5, Team Craik 4

• Team Epping 9, Team Nyman 1

• Team Brunner 5, Team Hostmaelingen 4

UP NEXT

The HearingLife Tour Challenge continues Friday with Draw 13 at 8 a.m. local time at the Gale Centre.

Broadcast coverage resumes with Draw 14 at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and streaming online at Sportsnet+ (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES

The HearingLife Tour Challenge is the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season with 32 men’s teams and 32 women’s teams in two tiers of action. Tier 1 features the top teams from around the world. Tier 2 features the next group of teams in the rankings with the winners earning promotions into the Co-op Canadian Open later this season. … Round-robin play wraps up Friday evening with the top eight teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs. … If teams are tied for the final playoff spots, their draw-to-the-button shootout totals will determine who advances. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals set for Sunday.