Undefeated Hasselborg rolls past Carey into Masters semifinals
OKOTOKS, Alta. — Anna Hasselborg of Sweden has kept the winning streak running by rolling past Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 6-4 during the WFG Masters women’s quarterfinals Saturday.
Hasselborg completed an undefeated 4-0 run through pool play and advanced to the semifinals in just her team’s second top-tier Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament.
“It feels amazing to be in the semifinals in our first Masters, our second Slam as a team,” an ecstatic Hasselborg said after the victory. “We’re playing really good so we’re just going to keep it up. We’re going to be in the final, I hope.”
With the game even at 1-1 after three, Hasselborg counted a game-changing three-ender in the fourth with an amazing double takeout.
“We were struggling a bit,” Hasselborg said. “We didn’t make too many good shots. My team and I felt we had one and everyone’s like, ‘Anna you should play it!’ I think that we saw that this is the game-changer and you have to take it when you get a chance like that so we went for it and it worked out well.”
Carey took two in the fifth and held Hasselborg to one in the sixth. The reigning Canadian women’s champion Carey misfired her last in the seventh hitting her own rock and missed a counter leading to a steal of one and a three-point hole. Hasselborg handed Carey a single in eight.
Hasselborg faces Rachel Homan in the semifinals after the Ottawa team came through in the clutch scoring two in the eighth to tie it and stealing in the extra end to defeat Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones 7-5.
The defending champion Homan struggled early conceding a point in the first end and giving up another steal in the third fall behind 2-0. Homan was forced to one in the fourth end. Jones made an open tap for two in the fifth end to extend her lead and Homan narrowed the gap back to one with a double takeout for a deuce in the sixth. Jones made an open tap for one in seven to go up by two until Homan mounted the comeback.
Meanwhile, Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont., took down No. 1 seed EunJung Kim of South Korea 8-2. After Flaxey stole one in the first, Kim struggled again in two as her first skip stone hit a guard and her second came up light. The teams alternated singles in three and four and Flaxey took two in five, stole one in six and swiped another pair in seven.
Flaxey plays Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni, who defeated compatriot Binia Feltscher 6-3. Tirinzoni stole two in six for the lead, limited the reigning world champion to one in seven and tacked on another pair of points coming home in eight.
Reigning Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., collides with Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock and Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers clashes with Niklas Edin of Sweden in the men’s semifinals.
The men’s and women’s semifinals start at 7 p.m. MT. Watch on Sportsnet ONE and online at sportsnet.ca/now.
