News Canadian Open

YORKTON, Sask. — Team Anna Hasselborg of Sweden stole two points in the eighth end to swipe a 7-5 victory from Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan during Thursday morning’s action in the Meridian Canadian Open at the Gallagher Centre.

Hasselborg, who is seeking a third consecutive Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s title, climbed to a 2-0 record to move onto the A-finals of the triple knockout stage and is one win away from qualifying for the playoffs.

The Meridian Canadian Open is the lone Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event to use the triple knockout format where teams must win three games before they lose three games in order to advance to the quarterfinals. Each loss drops teams to a lower bracket until they are eliminated. Two A-qualifiers (3-0 records), three B-qualifiers (3-1 records) and three C-qualifiers (3-2 records) advance to the quarterfinals in both men’s and women’s divisions.

Team Hasselborg will now take on Team Nina Roth, who topped Russia’s Team Alina Kovaleva 7-6. Third Tabitha Peterson has moved up to skip the American squad (2-0) with Roth on maternity leave.

Homan, who won her record-breaking 10th GSOC women’s title at last year’s Meridian Canadian Open, and Kovaleva slipped to the B Event with 1-1 records.

Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones, Switzerland’s Team Elena Stern and Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura all earned one-point victories in the B Event to improve to 1-1 records.

Jones edged Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni 6-5 and Yoshimura clipped Edmonton’s Team Kelsey Rocque 5-4 in extra ends while Stern beat Team Min Ji Kim of South Korea 5-4 in eight.

Tirinzoni, Rocque and Kim fell to the C Event with 0-2 records and must win out to stay in contention.

The Meridian Canadian Open continues at 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet on online streaming via Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES: The Meridian Canadian Open is the fourth event and third major of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … At stake is a $300,000 total purse, split equally between the men’s and women’s divisions, with the winners earning $35,000 plus berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup. … Also up for grabs: points for the Pinty’s Cup, which is the season title awarded following the conclusion of the Princess Auto Players’ Championship in April.