News Canadian Open

NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., has done it again at the Meridian Canadian Open.

Scheidegger won her third consecutive game of the day stunning Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 7-3 Saturday night to reach the women’s final in her Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling top-tier debut.

Team Scheidegger will face Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland, who topped Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg with a 7-4 victory to reach a second consecutive Grand Slam final.

Scheidegger defeated Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque in the C-qualifiers to advance to the playoffs and upset six-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling winner Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg in the quarterfinals.

It’s Team Scheidegger lead Stephanie Enright’s time to shine after watching her brother, Team Gushue lead Geoff Walker, win five Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling titles.

“It’s been kind of surreal,” Enright said. “It’s our first Slam and I’ve watched my brother on TV over and over. I’ve watched my future sister-in-law [Team Rocque’s Laura Crocker] on TV. It’s awesome just to get here and now we’re getting on a roll so that feels really good.”

Walker said it’s really cool to look one sheet over and see his sister reach the final.

“For them to come to their first actual Grand Slam, the main field, and make the final, that’s pretty exciting,” said Walker, who will play in the men’s final against Niklas Edin of Sweden. “I’m pretty proud of her.”

The reigning Tour Challenge Tier 1 champion Sweeting blanked the opening stanza, but gave up a steal of three in the second when her last rolled heavy. Sweeting struggled again in the third end looking to angle raise tap one of her own but came up light and off the mark as Scheidegger swiped two more points in the third. Sweeting conceded another in four to fall behind 6-0 at the break. Sweeting snapped the shutout taking two in the fifth and the teams alternated singles in six and seven.

“Sweeting is always a good team and we always know it’s going to be a battle,” Enright said. “I’ve played them quite a bit over the years because I’ve played in Edmonton more than the girls have so we knew it was going to be a good game and we’d have to come out playing hard. We did and we got some breaks.” 

Cathy Overton-Clapham lives up to the “super spare” billing again after helping Tirinzoni to a runner-up result in the Boost National last month. Overton-Clapham is filling in at third for Manuela Siegrist, who is out following knee surgery. The Winnipeg native Overton-Clapham helped Sweeting capture her first career Grand Slam title at the 2014 Masters and assisted Eve Muirhead in the Scottish skip’s Players’ Championship title defence last year. 

NOTES: The Meridian Canadian Open is the fourth event and third major of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … TV coverage resumes with the men’s final Sunday at Noon ET on CBC. … Winners of the Meridian Canadian Open earn spots for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup taking place at the end of April in Calgary.