News Tour Challenge

CHARLOTTETOWN — Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan scored three in the eighth end to defeat Team Xenia Schwaller of Switzerland 6-4 and qualify for the playoffs in the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

Three spots in the quarterfinals were locked up during Draw 14 Friday afternoon with three more remaining to complete the playoff picture.

Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli also qualified with a 5-4 victory over Winnipeg’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes in an all-Manitoba matchup.

Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå advanced as well following a 6-3 decision against Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States.

Third Cory Thiesse is skipping the American club as Tabitha and her sister Tara Peterson are on maternity leave. Vicky Persinger and Aileen Geving are in the lineup at third and second, respectively.

The first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season features triple knockout — with A, B and C Event brackets — where teams must win three games before they lose three to advance to the quarterfinals. 

Homan, Einarson and Wranå made it through the B-side with 3-1 records.

Schwaller, Lawes and Team Peterson dropped to 2-2 with one last chance to advance through the evening C-qualifiers.

Lawes takes on Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni, Team Peterson plays Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa and Schwaller goes up against South Korea’s Team Eun-jung Kim, who eliminated Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg 6-3 elsewhere in Draw 14.

Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini and Team Eun-ji Gim of South Korea advanced through the A Event undefeated at 3-0 Thursday and have the day off.

UP NEXT

Triple knockout play continues with men’s action at 4 p.m. AT / 3 p.m. ET at the Bell Aliant Centre. Watch live on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+.

Tickets are available at tourchallenge.goigniter.com and online streaming for all Tier 1 games is available here at thegrandslamofcurling.com.

TIER 2

Japan’s Team Momoha Tabata and Team Ikue Kitazawa plus Team Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C., advanced to the Tier 2 women’s quarterfinals.

Tabata topped Edmonton’s Team Serena Gray-Withers 7-0, Kitazawa defeated Calgary’s Team Kayla Skrlik 9-3 and Brown beat Saskatoon’s Team Ashley Thevenot 7-3 in the B-qualifiers.

Gray-Withers, Skrlik and Thevenot dropped into the C-qualifiers.

Skrilik will play Winnipeg’s Team Beth Peterson, Gray-Withers takes on Halifax’s Team Christina Black and Thevenot goes up against South Korea’s Team Seung-youn Ha, who eliminated Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont 7-0 in the C Event semifinals.

NOTES

The HearingLife Tour Challenge features 64 of the best men’s and women’s teams from around the world split into two tiers. … Tier 2 winners receive invitations to the WFG Masters in January. … Eight teams in each division qualify for Saturday’s quarterfinals … The semifinals are also scheduled for Saturday with the finals set for Sunday.