News Masters

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — Sven Michel of Switzerland scored two in the sixth and stole a pair in the seventh during a 7-3 win Wednesday over Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Masters.

The three-time Grand Slam champion McEwen, who finished runner-up at the past two GSOC events to end last season, lost to Scotland’s David Murdoch 5-4 in the opening draw Tuesday night and is now 0-2 in the tournament and already on the brink of elimination.

Michel, who improved to 2-0, opened the scoring with a deuce in the first. After the teams traded singles in the second and third ends and McEwen tied it up 3-3 with another single in the fourth followed by a steal of one in the fifth.

Elsewhere, defending champion Kevin Koe of Calgary topped New Zealand’s Peter de Boer 5-2. It was Koe’s first match of the tournament while De Boer dropped to 0-2 having sustained a 6-3 loss to Toronto’s John Epping in the morning draw.

In women’s action, Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott (2-0) stole one in the second and scored a deuce in the fourth during a 4-2 victory over Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton (0-1). Ott blanked the seventh to retain the hammer for the final end and added an insurance marker to seal the win.

South Korea’s Ji-Sun Kim edged Winnipeg’s Chelsea Carey 6-5 with a single in the eighth and Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson scored two in the eighth to top China’s Bingyu Wang 4-3. Sigfridsson moved up to a 2-0 record, Kim and Wang are both level at 1-1 while Carey opened at 0-1.