Schwaller to play Whyte, Fujisawa to face Tirinzoni in Grand Slam finals

SASKATOON — Yannick Schwaller of Geneva, Switzerland, punched his ticket to Sunday’s final at the HearingLife Canadian Open with a 7-5 win Saturday night over John Shuster of Duluth, Minn.

Schwaller, who defeated Marc Muskatewitz of Germany 7-1 in Saturday’s earlier quarterfinals, scored three in the opening end against Shuster. He went up 4-1 in the third with a single, but Shuster scored a deuce in the fourth, and stole one in the fifth to tie the game 4-4 after five ends.

But Schwaller counted two in the sixth, held Shuster to a single in the seventh, and scored one in the eighth to seal the deal in the Grand Slam of Curling competition at Merlis Belsher Place.

Schwaller will face Ross Whyte in the final after he knocked off Bruce Mouat 6-4 in an all Scotland semifinal. Whyte beat Brad Jacobs of Calgary 8-6 in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Against Mouat, Whyte trailed 4-2 after six ends, but tied it 4-4 with a deuce in the seventh and stole two in the eighth for the victory.

Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa, who beat defending champion Rachel Homan 5-4 in women’s quarterfinal play Saturday afternoon, advanced to Sunday’s final with a 7-5 victory over Momoha Tabata, also of Japan.

Fujisawa trailed 4-1 after four ends, but scored three in the fifth to tie the game, then went ahead 6-4 with a steal of two in the sixth end. The teams traded singles in the final two ends.

Fujisawa will play Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland after she edged Sayaka Yoshimura of Japan 5-4 in Saturday’s semifinal. Yoshimura tied the game 4-4 with a deuce in the seventh, but Tirinzoni scored one with the hammer to register the win.

Yoshimura defeated Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., 9-6 in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2025.