Grandy tops Fujisawa to grab third win at KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup
REGINA — Canada’s Clancy Grandy continued a solid start to the KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup with a 7-3 win Thursday over Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa.
Grandy improved to a 3-1 record in pool play with one game remaining on tap Friday. Fujisawa fell to a level 2-2 record.
It was all Grandy out of the gate as she made an open hit to score a deuce in the first then stole singles in the second and third to hold a 4-0 lead.
Fujisawa regrouped with a draw for a single in the fourth, then swiped points in back-to-back ends to close within one. Grandy came up short on an angle tap in the fifth and was unable to chisel out Fujisawa’s frozen shot rock in the sixth.
That was as close as Fujisawa would get though as Grandy closed things out with a hit for three points in the seventh.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Team Hasselborg (2-2) scored their second win on the day defeating Jennifer Jones’ Canadian club in a 6-4 comeback.
Anna Hasselborg is away on maternity leave and second Agnes Knochenhauer, who is also expecting a baby, has moved up to skip. Alternate Johanna Heldin is filling in this week at second.
Team Jones (3-1) were up 4-3 with the hammer in the sixth, but Team Hasselborg rolled away stealing single points in three consecutive ends.
In men’s play, Italy’s Joël Retornaz scored a deuce in the fifth and stole singles in the sixth and seventh to rally past Canada’s Reid Carruthers 6-3. Both teams are now at 2-2.
Korey Dropkin’s team (1-3) from the United States got on the board winning 5-2 over Regina’s Kelly Knapp (0-4).
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Round-robin action continues at the Co-operators Centre with Draw 11 at 8 p.m. local time (10 p.m. ET).
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NOTES
The KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup is the sixth and final event of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams who have won top tour titles to qualify. … Both divisions are split into two pools of six teams for round-robin play. The best six teams overall qualify for Saturday’s quarterfinals with the top two receiving byes to the semifinals. … The finals are scheduled for Sunday.
