Men’s and women’s final showdowns now determined at PointsBet Invitational

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Kerri Einarson and Rachel Homan are set to clash in a battle of the top seeds on Sunday.

Top seed Einarson topped Kaitlyn Lawes 8-3 in the PointsBet Invitational women’s semifinal on Saturday. The second-seeded Homan defeated Christina Black 10-5 in the other semifinal.

“It feels pretty good,” Einarson said. “It’s always nice to play great and make it into another final.”

After falling behind 2-0 in the opening end, Einarson notched singles in the next four ends to take the lead. Lawes’s fourth-seeded squad cut the deficit to 4-3 in the sixth, but Einarson’s side closed it out with four points in the following three ends to seal their ticket to the final.

“I just dialed back my kick a little bit,” Einarson said of rebounding from the two-point deficit. “I was kicking a little hard and once I felt that, I regrouped and strung a couple together.”

Homan, meanwhile, used a three-point fourth end to boost her side’s lead to 7-3. Black’s sixth-seeded team failed to get within three points from there as Homan had a two-point eighth end to wrap up the win.

In the men’s semifinals, skips Matt Dunstone and Reid Carruthers each advanced to Sunday’s final with 6-5 extra-end wins.

The fifth-seeded Carruthers scored one in the 10th end to tie the top-seeded Brad Gushue squad 5-5, and then stole one in the extra end to complete the upset. The third-seeded Dunstone gave up a steal of one in the 10th end to tenth-seeded Mike McEwen but used the hammer in the 11th to score one for a ticket to the final.

The PointsBet Invitational is the first Season of Champions event of the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2023.