News Canadian Open

NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — Better late than never, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan of Ottawa picked up her first win in the Meridian Canadian Open to keep her title defence alive.

Homan threw a perfect 100 percent to punt Russia’s Anna Sidorova 8-3 during Draw 10 Friday morning in a must-win C event match of the triple knockout preliminary round. 

Teams must win three games before they lose three in order to qualify and Homan, who has never missed the playoffs through 18 appearances in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling, must win two more consecutive games in order to advance to the quarterfinals.

The five-time Grand Slam champion Homan (1-2) tapped for two points in the second to open the scoring and grabbed another point in three as she sat a trio of counters and Sidorova hit and rubbed off the shot rock. Sidorova bounced back drawing for two in the fourth, but Homan cushioned her lead with an open hit to score four in the fifth. The teams split singles in six and seven as Homan reclaimed the five-point advantage. 

Elsewhere, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg held off Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., 7-6 to reach the B-qualifiers. Hasselborg (2-1) faces Michelle Englot’s team from Winnipeg for a playoff spot. Scheidegger dropped to the C event at 1-2.

Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque scraped out a 4-3 win over Bingyu Wang of China to make it to the B qualifiers. Rocque (2-1) will play reigning Masters champion Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont. Wang fell to a 1-2 record and into the C stage.

There will be a new Meridian Canadian Open men’s champion this season after Toronto’s John Epping saw his title defence come to an end with an 8-3 loss to Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher. Epping was eliminated with a 1-3 record while Bottcher remains in contention in the C event at 2-2.

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock doubled up on Greg Balsdon, of Kingston, Ont., 8-4. Laycock (2-2) dropped his first couple games to fall to the C-side early and has now won two straight to level his record. Balsdon is out at 1-3.

NOTES: The Meridian Canadian Open is the fourth event and third major of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Teams must win three games before they lose three in order to qualify for the playoffs. … Winners of the Meridian Canadian Open earn spots for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup taking place at the end of April in Calgary.