News Masters

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton downed Eve Muirhead of Scotland 8-3 Thursday during Draw 7 of the Grand Slam of Curling’s Masters event.

Lawton, who sits second overall in the World Curling Tour rankings, is now 1-1 in the tournament while the world champion Muirhead slipped to 1-2.

Muirhead held the hammer in the opening end and looked to score three, but her final shot clipped one of her other stones and failed to clear Lawton’s rock from the house to give up the steal of one. The reigning Players’ champion Muirhead rebounded with a deuce in the second. It was all Lawton in the middle ends scoring three in the third to pull ahead and adding steals of one in the fourth and two in the fifth to make it 7-2. Muirhead had to settle for a single in six when her final shot rolled out of the house. Lawton tacked on another point in seven.

Elsewhere, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan (1-1) scored pairs of points in the first and fourth ends during a 5-3 victory over China’s Bingyu Wang (1-2). The defending champion Homan bounced back into the win column after sustaining an 8-2 loss in only five ends Wednesday to Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin.

Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson improved to 3-0 in the tournament and clinched a playoff spot with a 7-1 rout over Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa (0-2). Sigfridsson scored deuces in the first and fourth ends, stole a pair in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Ji-Sun Kim of South Korea scored four in the second and two in the fifth during a 6-5 win over Russia’s Anna Sidorova. Both teams now hold 2-1 records.

China’s Rui Liu swiped a 7-4 victory over American Tyler George 7-4 in the lone men’s game on the draw. Tied 2-2, Liu (2-1) took the lead by stealing three points in the fourth end when George (0-2) wrecked on his own guard with his final shot.