News Masters

SELKIRK, Man. — Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., avenged an opening-draw loss to Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton with a 5-4 victory Saturday during the quarterfinals of the Masters.

Gushue, who secured the victory with a single in the eighth end, has now won four consecutive games heading into the evening semifinals since losing 5-3 to Stoughton on Tuesday night.

Stoughton was playing his third consecutive draw after defeating Calgary’s John Morris and Niklas Edin of Sweden in back-to-back tiebreakers to finally qualify for the playoffs.

The 2006 Olympic gold medallist Gushue scored three in the second and led 4-2 after the fifth, but Stoughton counted a could in the sixth the knot it up. Gushue blanked the seventh to retain the hammer coming home.

Gushue will face Toronto’s John Epping, who held off Switzerland’s Sven Michel 5-4.

Epping opened the game with a deuce and never relinquished the lead, as the teams alternated singles through the second and third ends and again in the fourth and fifth. Epping added a steal of one in the sixth to hold a three-point advantage. Michel scored one in the seventh and Epping gave up a steal of one in the final end to close the game.

Olympic champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen advanced to the other semifinal. Jacobs scored two in the eighth to earn a 5-4 win over Calgary’s Kevin Koe and McEwen, wearing red playoff pants, cruised past Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 9-3 in seven ends. McEwen scored three in the second and added a steal of one in the fourth to pull away 4-1. Leading 6-3 with the hammer in the seventh, McEwen added another three to ice the match.

The women’s semifinal round sees Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones face Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson in an Olympic gold medal game rematch while double defending Masters champion Rachel Homan of Ottawa meets Edmonton’s Val Sweeting in a Scotties Tournament of Hearts final rematch.