News Masters

SELKIRK, Man. — Reigning Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones scored a deuce in the final end to lift her Winnipeg team to a 6-5 win over Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., in the Masters women’s quarterfinals Saturday.

Jones trailed 5-4 after giving up a three-ender in the sixth and blanked the seventh to retain the hammer coming home. It was an anti-climatic finish, however, as Jones didn’t need to throw her last rock as she already sat two and Middaugh clipped a guard with her final shot.

Elsewhere, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan continues her bid for a third consecutive Masters title with an 8-3 win over Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland. Homan jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a single in the first followed by a steal of three in the third. The teams exchanged singles in four and five, Tirinzoni added a deuce in six but Homan iced the game counting a three-ender in seven.

Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson advanced with an 8-4 win over reigning world champion Binia Feltscher of Switzerland. Sigfridsson broke a 4-4 tie with a deuce in the fifth and added single steals in the sixth and seventh to eliminate the No. 1 seed and previously undefeated Feltscher.

Edmonton’s Val Sweeting swiped a 5-2 win from Alina Paetz of Switzerland. Tied 2-2, Sweeting pulled ahead for good with a point in the fourth and cushioned to her lead with single steals in both the sixth and seventh ends.

Sweeting will play Homan in a rematch of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final while Jones and Sigfridsson meet in an Olympic gold medal rematch.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton capitalized with a five-ender in the seventh to ice Sweden’s Niklas Edin 9-5 in the final men’s tiebreaker to qualify. Stoughton converted with a deuce in the first, but Edin rallied with a single in the second followed by single steals the third and fourth ends to pull ahead. Stoughton recovered with another deuce in five, forced Edin to a single in six and added the game-breaking five count in seven.

“Obviously we expect a game like that when you’re playing top teams and we’re comfortable in that situation,” said Team Stoughton third Rob Fowler. “We had the hammer so they were trying to force us a little bit and we decided to go for it and probably played one of our best ends of the game. We made eight good shots and had them in a world of hurt at the end there.”

Stoughton had just finished defeating John Morris during the first set of tiebreakers in the morning and will now play No. 1 seed Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., in the quarterfinals. The rest of the bracket sees Toronto’s John Epping vs. Sven Michel of Switzerland, Calgary’s Kevin Koe vs. Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock vs. Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen.