Muirhead wins 2nd straight GSOC title at Players’ Championship
TORONTO — Scotland’s Eve Muirhead was in the winner’s circle again at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Muirhead stole single points in the seventh and eighth ends to lift her team to a 4-2 victory over Russia’s Anna Sidorova to capture the women’s Players’ Championship on Sunday.
Muirhead, third Anna Sloan, second Vicki Adams and lead Sarah Reid earned $23,500 CAD and also claimed the 2014-15 Rogers Grand Slam Cup as the overall women’s points leader to collect a $35,000 bonus.
“Oh it’s fantastic,” Sloan said. “We’ve had a tough season of inconsistencies but this week we just really dug in. I think it just showed that we are a strong side, that we’re here to compete, and we played really well there.”
It’s the third career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title and second in a row for Muirhead, who won the Players’ Championship in this very arena two years ago and captured the inaugural Canadian Open women’s championship back in December.
“It feels just as good the second time around if not better,” Sloan said. “I think the first year, we were playing well, we were playing consistently and everything was going our way. This season has been tough. The results haven’t been going our way. (But now) just loving it.”
Sloan said they’re already thinking of what to spend the cash on.
“It’s pretty nice,” Sloan said with a laugh. “We’re all full-eyed on what we want to spend it on. Maybe a couple shopping trips are coming our way but yeah it’s just great.”
Team Sidorova, who defeated Muirhead to win the bronze medal at the worlds last month, opened with the hammer but Team Muirhead didn’t let that faze them. After blanking the first, Sidorova drew to the button for a single in the second end to take a 1-0 lead. Muirhead looked to score two in the third with a runback but rolled out and counted just one to tie it.
Sidorova was forced to take a point in four to retake the lead at 2-1. Muirhead attempted to split and get two in the fifth but could only count one knotting it up again. Sidorova blanked the sixth and gave up a single steal in seven when she attempted to score three but her shot overcurled.
Sidorova needed to make a double tap to force the extra end but didn’t get it close enough and Muirhead picked up another steal to close out the game.
Team Sidorova had been on fire during the second half of the season winning the Glynhill Ladies International tour event in January and capturing gold at the 2015 Winter Universiade in February on top of their bronze from the world championship last month.
It was Sidorova’s first time playing in a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final. The Moscow-based rink featuring Sidorova, third Margarita Fomina, second Aleksandra Saitova and lead Ekaterina Galkina started off 1-2 in the round robin and were on the brink of elimination but won five straight to reach the final.
The Players’ Championship is the fifth and final stop on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and Brad Jacobs, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., battle for the men’s title at 7 p.m. ET (Watch live on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West & Pacific).
Masters champion Val Sweeting of Edmonton finished second in the Rogers Grand Slam Cup women’s standings to receive a $20,000 bonus while Ottawa’s Rachel Homan gets $10,000 for third place.
