Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni wins tiebreaker to fill final spot in quarters

SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. – Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni downed Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 7-6 in the tiebreaker draw at the Champions Cup curling event on Friday night to advance into the quarter-finals.

Tirinzoni was the last skip on the women’s side to qualify for Saturday’s eight-team quarter-finals at the seventh and final event of the Grand Slam season and will face Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara.

Ogasawara (4-0) was the only female skip to go undefeated through the 15-team round-robin portion of the event. Tirinzoni is 3-2 after the tiebreaker.

In the other women’s quarters, Edmonton’s Val Sweeting (3-1) will play Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (3-1), Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson (3-1) is up against Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton (2-2) and Ottawa’s Rachel Homan (3-1) draws Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque (2-2).

Only one of the four quarter-final matchups on the men’s side is set with Calgary’s Kevin Koe (3-1) facing Edmonton’s Reid Carruthers (3-1). Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (4-0), Toronto’s John Epping (3-1) and Brad Gushue of St. John’s N.L. (3-1) have all qualified, but won’t know their opponents until after Saturday morning’s tiebreaker draws.

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock will play Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, Calgary’s Pat Simmons is against Scotland’s David Murdoch and Sweden’s Niklas Edin plays Switzerland’s Peter De Cruz. All six skips finished 2-2 in the preliminary round.

The finals are scheduled for Sunday.