Wrana beats Lawes to qualify for Princess Auto Players’ Championship playoffs
TORONTO — It’s moving day at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship and Isabella Wranå became the first to move on up into the playoffs.
Wranå and her Swedish squad scored five points in the fifth end during a 10-4 victory over Canada’s Kaitlyn Lawes on Friday morning at Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Team Wranā wrapped up their round-robin schedule with a 4-1 record and could even score a bye to the semifinals pending the results of the three remaining draws on tap.
Team Lawes dropped to a 2-3 record and might still be in it but their fate is out of their hands.
Eun-Ji Gim of South Korea (3-1) scored two in the seventh and stole one in the eighth to win 5-2 over Tabitha Peterson (2-2) from the United States.
In men’s play, Canada’s Matt Dunstone (3-1) also took two in the seventh end then added a steal in the eighth for a 5-2 victory over Scotland’s Ross Whyte (2-2).
Niklas Edin (3-1) scored three in the eighth end to lift his Swedish side to an 8-5 win over Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell (1-3). The defeat ousted Ramsfjell from contention as three-loss teams have been eliminated in the men’s division.
UP NEXT
Round-robin play continues at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).
Tickets are available at the box office and online at Ticketmaster.ca.
NOTES: The Princess Auto Players’ Championship features 12 of the top men’s teams and 12 of the top women’s teams from around the world based on the World Curling Federation’s year-to-date world team rankings. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday. The best six teams overall qualify for Saturday’s playoffs with the top two receiving byes to the semifinals. Both finals are scheduled for Sunday. … The Pinty’s Cup will also be awarded to the season champions in the series during the event.
