News Masters

SASKATOON — The playoff picture is now set in the WFG Masters.

Scotland’s Ross Whyte and his squad secured the final spot for the men’s quarterfinals with a 5-3 victory over Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin during Saturday morning’s tiebreaker draw.

“It’s been a bit of a tough week,” Whyte said. “We’ve played pretty well the whole way through, just a couple of really hard games against some good performers. We’re just happy to be in the quarters.”

Better late than never, Whyte has now qualified for the playoffs in four consecutive Grand Slam of Curling events.

“They’re always kind of the highlight of our year,” said Whyte, who is currently No. 7 in the world rankings. “We always want to come out here and do well and perform. That’s why we have training weeks before we come out here and it seems to be paying off, so I’m very happy about it.”

Whyte is the last man standing from the Scottish contingent in the event. Compatriots Team Bruce Mouat, Team James Craik and Team Cameron Bryce also competed in the WFG Masters along with Team Rebecca Morrison in the women’s division, the most Scottish clubs in a single Grand Slam event.

“It’s nice to see friendly faces out here,” Whyte said. “Everyone’s a friend and it’s good to be catching up. It’s great to see and hopefully, we can continue that.” 

Whyte will play No. 1 seed Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., in the men’s quarterfinals. The other three matches are: Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers vs. Team Joël Retornaz of Italy, Calgary’s Team Brendan Bottcher vs. Team Magnus Ramsfjell of Norway and Winnipeg’s Team Matt Dunstone vs. Team Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland.

Team Anna Hasselborg and Team Isabella Wrana, both from Sweden, plus Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States also advanced from the tiebreaker draw on the women’s side.

Hasselborg swept past Team Delaney Strouse of the United States 7-2, Wrana brushed aside Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa 8-2 and Peterson ousted South Korea’s Team Eun-Jung Kim 6-5.

The women’s quarterfinals are up first featuring Hasselborg vs. Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones, Wrana vs. Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan, Peterson vs. Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland and Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., vs. South Korea’s Team Eun-Ji Gim.

Watch the women’s quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. local time followed by the men’s quarterfinals at 3:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. local time. Watch both draws on Sportsnet East/Ontario/West, Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and GSOClive.com (international).

The semifinals are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. local time on Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and GSOClive.com (international).