News Canadian Open

YORKTON, Sask. — Defending champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland, Edmonton’s Val Sweeting and Ottawa’s Rachel Homan advanced to the Meridian Canadian Open playoffs through the B event qualifiers of the triple knockout preliminary round. 

Muirhead defeated Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 7-2, Sweeting held off Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 5-4 and Homan beat Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont., 7-3 during Draw 11 action Friday. All three advanced with 3-1 records.  

After settling for a single in the second, Muirhead stole two points in the third to extend her lead to 3-0. Tirinzoni, who won the Tour Challenge Tier 1 in September, got a single in the fourth and stole a point in the fifth to close the gap to one. Muirhead cushioned her lead with a three-ender in six and swiped another point in seven to bring out the early handshakes. 

“We knew it was always going to be a tough game, we’ve played Tirinzoni plenty of times,” Team Muirhead third Anna Sloan said. “They know us just as well as we know them and I think that we just needed to make sure that we came out and played a solid game and concentrated on our own performance and I think that’s exactly what we did. It’s good to be back into the quarterfinals of this competition.” 

Meanwhile, Sweeting struck the scoreboard first without the hammer stealing two in the third end when Carey had to draw against four counters and rolled too far. Carey settled for a single in four and stole one in five to tie it, but Sweeting retook the lead with a three-ender in six. Sweeting held Carey to one in seven and gave up one in eight to prevail. 

“We had a couple of breaks that were uncharacteristic, I thought,” Sweeting said. “We played a pretty good game and there were a couple of lapses, a couple of shots I want back, but overall happy to qualify out of the B here.”

It’s a mini-reunion of sorts for the Saskatchewan-born Sweeting in Yorkton.

“It’s really special for me to play here in Yorkton and with all the family here and everything it’s great to see them in the stands,” Sweeting said. “It just makes me feel good playing in front of my family and in this arena.” 

Homan opened up a 3-0 lead against Fleury in the second after firing her first skip stone through a port to make a double and got her last through the narrow opening again to tap for three. The teams alternated singles in three and four. Fleury missed a takeout attempt with her last in the fifth to give up two but got a deuce back in six. Homan, who edged Fleury in the National women’s final last month, tacked on another single in the seventh.

Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen ousted Jim Cotter of Vernon, B.C., with a 5-2 victory in the men’s C event. McEwen (2-2) scored a deuce in three and stole a pair of points in four to lead 4-0 when Cotter’s final stone was light and clipped a guard. McEwen swiped another point in five and Cotter (1-3) took two in seven. 

Charlottetown’s Adam Casey (2-2) stayed in the mix with a 7-3 win over American John Shuster, who was eliminated with a 1-3 record.

NOTES: The Meridian Canadian Open is the fourth stop — and third major — of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday. … The event features a triple knockout where teams must win three games before they lose three in order to qualify for the playoffs.