News Masters

LLOYDMINSTER, Sask. — Reigning Olympic champion Brad Jacobs picked up a pair of wins Wednesday to open his run at the Masters.

Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., followed up his 5-3 win over Pat Simmons from the afternoon with an 8-4 victory over Reid Carruthers during Draw 6 in the evening at Centennial Civic Centre.

It was tight to start as the teams traded deuces in two and three. Jacobs counted another couple in four although he had an open draw for three points and rolled too far to let Carruthers off the hook. The lucky break balanced out though as Carruthers gave up a steal in the fifth and Jacobs pulled away 6-2.

Carruthers cut the deficit in half with another pair in six, but it was handshakes after seven as Jacobs matched with another deuce.

“We weren’t sharp in that game,” Jacobs said. “Neither team was but a win is a win and we’ll take it in this league.”

The Winnipeg native Carruthers is now even with a 1-1 record picking up a 6-3 win over Peter de Cruz in the morning draw.

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Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud scored two in the eighth to slip past Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 5-4. Ulsrud is now at 2-0 while McEwen is at 1-1.

Niklas Edin of Sweden is also at 2-0 with a 6-2 victory over Toronto’s John Epping (0-2).

In women’s division action, Tour Challenge Tier 2 champion Kerri Einarson of Winnipeg trounced Tier 1 victor Val Sweeting of Edmonton 7-2 in six ends.

“It started kind of funny because poor Kristin [MacCuish] had a bleeding nose to start,” Einarson said. “We kept in there, kept the pressure on them and capitalized on their misses, so it was good.”

Einarson took two in the second, held Sweeting to one in the third and added three in the fourth to go up 5-1. The pressure was still on as Einarson stole two in the fifth and forced Sweeting to hit against a bunch in the sixth for just another single.

Einarson improved to a 2-0 record while Sweeting slid to 0-2.

“It feels great to be back in the Slams and to be 2-0 is nice,” Einarson said. “We’ve got two big games left. We’ve got [Casey] Scheidegger, who is undefeated as well, that’s going to be a tough game and [Rachel] Homan, who’s always a tough game. We definitely have to come out and play our best against both of them.”

Homan is at 0-2 and the three-time Masters champion must win her next pair of game to avoid elimination.

“They’re going to come out fighting when we play them, so we’ll give it our best,” Einarson said. “If we play like we have been we shouldn’t have an issue.”

Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (2-0) also sprinted through the evening draw overwhelming Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga, Ont., 8-1 in just five ends. Tirinzoni took two in the first and stole back-to-back points in two and three for an early 4-0 lead. Harrison (0-2) got her lone point in four, but it was over early when Tirinzoni scored four in the fifth.

NOTES: The Masters is the second event and first major of the 2017-18 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … Round-robin action runs through to Friday with the quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday and finals set for Sunday. … TV coverage begins Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) or gsoc.yaretv.com (international).