Homan holds off Rocque to start run at Masters
OAKVILLE, Ont. — Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan scored a single in the eighth end to clip Edmonton’s Team Kelsey Rocque 6-5 Tuesday in the second draw of the Masters at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex.
Homan, who has won a record 11 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling women’s titles, moves onto the semifinals of the A Event in the triple knockout tournament. Teams must win three games before they lose three in order to qualify for the playoffs.
After Homan opened the scoring stealing a point in the second end, Rocque recovered taking two points in the third. Homan responded with a deuce in four to jump back ahead by one going into the halftime break. Rocque was held to a single in five to tie it 3-3 and the teams continued to keep pace alternating two-point ends in six and seven.
Defending champions Team Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul, Man., downed Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura 6-2 in a repeat of the 2019 women’s final.
Fleury, who captured her first GSOC title two years ago in North Bay, Ont., took the lead for good with a deuce in the third and forced Yoshimura to a single in the fourth to lead 3-2 heading into the break. Fleury matched with a single in five and stole back-to-back points in six and seven.
Two-time reigning world champions Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland stole four points in the third and doubled up on Team Un-Chi Gim of South Korea 6-3.
Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa scored three in the fifth end during a 5-3 victory over Team Min-Ji Kim of South Korea.
Triple knockout play continues with Draw 3 featuring the men’s division at 3 p.m. ET.
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).
