News Canadian Open

CAMROSE, Alta. — Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa and Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg moved onto the A-finals of the triple knockout preliminary stage in the Co-op Canadian Open.

Fujisawa came from behind to beat Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni 8-6 in an extra end while the defending champion Hasselborg trumped Team Tabitha Peterson from the United States 8-0 in only four ends during Wednesday’s morning draw.

Teams must win three games before they lose three in order to advance to the playoffs. Fujisawa and Hasselborg, both 2-0, are one more victory away from qualifying.

Down 6-3, Fujisawa scored three points in the eighth end to force overtime and stole two for the win when Team Tirinzoni’s fourth Alina Pätz missed the mark on her last shot.

Meanwhile, Hasselborg opened with the hammer against Peterson and converted for a deuce in the first end then made quick work stealing away four points in the second and back-to-back singles in the third and fourth to end things early.

Team Hasselborg captured the women’s title when the event was last held in 2020.

Hasselborg, second Agnes Knochenhauer and lead Sofia Mabergs are just playing as a trio this week. Third Sara McManus is on maternity leave and spare Therese Westman fell ill.

Tirinzoni and Peterson, now both at 1-1, dropped from the A-side and into the B brackets.

Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan picked up their first win in the B stage with an 8-2 victory over Team Casey Scheidegger from Lethbridge, Alta. After giving up a single steal to fall behind 2-1, Homan (1-1) recovered with a huge score of four points in the fourth end then stole one in the fifth and two in the sixth.

Team Michèle Jäggi also improved to a 1-1 record with a 6-5 win over Team Raphaela Keiser during an all-Swiss matchup.

Scheidegger and Keiser dropped to 0-2 records and now must win three straight games out of the C brackets to avoid early elimination.

Triple knockout action continues with Draw 6 at 2 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. local time. Single draw tickets plus full-event, weekend and daily passes are available at the Encana Arena box office and online at camrosegsoc.goigniter.com.

NOTES: The Co-op Canadian Open is the fourth event of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season with 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world at Encana Arena. … Broadcast coverage of the Co-op Canadian Open begins Thursday at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and streaming online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) or Yare (international). … Triple knockout action runs through to Saturday morning. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon followed by the semifinals in the evening. Both finals are set for Sunday.