World champion Brad Gushue reaches semifinals at Players’ Championship

TORONTO – World champion Brad Gushue has moved one step closer to winning his second straight Players’ Championship.

Gushue, fresh off winning gold last week at the world championship, advanced to the semifinals at the Grand Slam of Curling event with a 6-1 win over Calgary’s Kevin Koe on Saturday.

The St. John’s, N.L., skip jumped to a 4-0 lead through four ends and the two shook hands after six.

Semifinal draws go Sunday morning, with the championship set for the afternoon.

Gushue will play Mike McEwen, who downed Reid Carruthers 4-2 in an all-Winnipeg quarter-final.

The other men’s semifinal will see Scotland’s Kyle Smith against Sweden’s Niklas Edin.

Smith downed Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 7-6, scoring a single in the eighth end to book his spot in the final four. Meanwhile, Edin defeated Switzerland’s Peter De Cruz 4-3.

In the women’s quarters, Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, a five-time tournament champion, downed two-time defending champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland 6-5.

Edmonton’s Val Sweeting needed an extra end to beat Ottawa’s Rachel Homan 4-3. Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni toppled Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., 7-3. And Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg defeated Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont., 7-6.

Hasselborg will play Sweeting while Jones faces Tirinzoni in Sunday’s semifinals.