Einarson, Jones advance to WFG Masters playoffs
SASKATOON — Kerri Einarson and her team from Gimli, Man., avoided the logjam in the standings and advanced straight through to the quarterfinals of the WFG Masters.
Einarson extended her playoff streak in the Grand Slam of Curling series to 11 events following a 5-4 victory over Team Delaney Strouse of the United States during the final women’s round-robin draw Friday at Merlis Belsher Place.
“It feels great,” Einarson said. “We had a couple scary ends but we managed to make some really key shots in that game. It feels good to be back in the winning column.”
Einarson said her team was just focused on their own game and not what was happening on the other sheets knowing they were still in control of their destiny.
“We just kind of leave it in our hands,” Einarson said. “All we had to do was go out there and win and then see what happens.”
WFG Masters: Scores | Standings | Draw Schedule | Broadcast Schedule
Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones edged Team Stefania Constantini from Italy 9-7 in an extra end, Winnipeg’s Team Kate Cameron beat Team Eun-Ji Gim of South Korea 5-4 and Team Tabitha Peterson from the United States topped Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa 8-6.
Jones and Gim are through to the quarterfinals at 3-1. Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan and Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland wrapped up round-robin play in the morning draw and are also taking 3-1 records into the playoffs.
Only a total of three women’s games could be set for the Saturday morning tiebreaker draw (8 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. local time) as one tiebreaker game is guaranteed on the men’s side.
Thanks to an impressive 3.2 cm draw-to-the-button shootout total, Einarson finished first among the nine teams tied with 2-2 records and earned the No. 5 playoff seed.
Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå will play Team Fujisawa, Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg will face Team Strouse and Team Kim will take on Team Peterson in the women’s tiebreakers.
Team Cameron and Team Kaitlyn Lawes, also of Winnipeg, were the odd teams out of the bunch and were eliminated with the worst shootout scores.
Tirinzoni, Jones and Homan will await the tiebreaker winners while Gim will go up against Einarson in the quarterfinals (Saturday, 11:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. local time).
Team Constantini finished winless at 0-4 and played as three for the second half against Team Jones. Second Marta Lo Deserto came out of the game for precautionary reasons due to a potential injury.
UP NEXT
The WFG Masters men’s round-robin wraps up with Draw 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. local time on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+ (Canada) and GSOClive.com (international).
NOTES
The WFG Masters is the third Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … The semifinals are also scheduled for Saturday with both finals on tap Sunday.
