Hasselborg hangs on to beat Jones and earn first win at Masters
OAKVILLE, Ont. — Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg picked up their first win in the Masters with a 7-5 victory over Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg during Wednesday afternoon action at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex.
The No. 1 seed Hasselborg improved to a 1-1 record and advanced to the B Event semifinals of the triple knockout stage. Hasselborg fell in a 7-6 extra-end upset to No. 16 seed Team Tori Koana of Japan during the opening draw Tuesday morning.
Jones (0-2) dropped into the C Event and must now win three straight in order to qualify for the playoffs.
“It was huge today,” skip Anna Hasselborg said. “We didn’t have a good game to start off with, so today I think we stepped up a little bit. It was a hard-fought battle for sure with some key misses from us, but we find ways to stay alive.”
Trailing by one, Hasselborg scored three in the fourth end to lead 4-2 heading into the break. Jones recovered with a deuce in five and a single steal in six to leapfrog back ahead as Hasselborg attempted to promote her guard in but the raised rock was off the line and did not count for shot rock.
Hasselborg hit for two points in the seventh to go up 6-5.
“Coming up with one up in the last was a good position,” Hasselborg said. “Enjoy the game and then we played a good, solid finish.”
Jones held the hammer coming home and looked to make an angle raise double takeout. The nine-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s champion almost had it, however, her raised rock went right through the hole and Hasselborg hung on.
“You never want to be on the side of hoping Jennifer Jones to miss,” Hasselborg said. “That is not likely. It was a hard shot and she was so close on it. You never want to give Jennifer a run corner double. She’s one of the best in the game for that, so just lucky she didn’t make it, I’d have to say.”
Sweden’s Team Isabella Wrana (1-1) also remained in the B Event with an 8-5 victory over Team Alina Kovaleva from Russia. Kovaleva (0-2) fell to the C Event.
Masters: Live Scores and Standings | Draw Schedule | Broadcast Schedule
Meanwhile, Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States and Team Eun-Jung Kim of South Korea both moved onto the A finals with 2-0 records.
Peterson defeated Koana 5-3 while Kim also scored a 5-3 victory over two-time reigning Canadian champions Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man.
Kim will clash with two-time reigning world champions Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland and Peterson faces Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan during the A finals Thursday.
Peterson is coming off of a big win earlier this month at the Autumn Gold Classic tour event in Calgary and looking to keep it up heading into the USA Curling Olympic trials next month in Omaha, Neb.
“We’re happy to just be out here and playing games,” skip Tabitha Peterson said. “Our (Olympic) trials are coming up, so all the practice we can get is good and playing here against good teams, so that’s always good to help us. Coming off of a strong week, too — last weekend in Calgary — so trying to keep the momentum rolling.”
Einarson and Koana, both at 1-1, are now in the B Event semifinals.
Masters triple knockout action continues with the men’s division at 4 p.m. ET.
TRIPLE KNOCKOUT EXPLAINED
The triple knockout consists of three brackets: A, B and C. Teams must win three games in order to qualify for the playoffs. Each loss drops a team to a lower bracket until they lose three games and are eliminated from the tournament. Two A teams (3-0 records), three B teams (3-1 records) and three C teams (3-2 records) advance to the quarterfinals.
NOTES
The Masters is the first of five events on the 2021-22 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and features 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Triple knockout play runs through to Saturday morning. The quarterfinals and semifinals are also Saturday with both finals set for Sunday. … Tickets are available at masters.goigniter.com. … Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET on Sportsnet, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).
