Canada’s Einarson falls to Switzerland’s Tirinzoni at women’s curling worlds

CALGARY – Canada's Kerri Einarson fell below the .500 mark at the LGT World Women's Curling Championship on Saturday afternoon after dropping an 8-5 decision to Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni.

Einarson missed both of her shots in the ninth end, with her final rock rolling out to give Switzerland a steal of two. Down three with hammer, Canada (1-2) couldn't get any offence going in the 10th and ran out of stones.

Tirinzoni, the defending champion, moved into a first-place tie with Sweden's Anna Hasselborg, Russia's Alina Kovaleva and Scotland's Eve Muirhead at 3-0.

Einarson, from Camp Morton, Man., was scheduled to play Russia in the evening draw.

Swiss fourth Alina Paetz made a few uncharacteristic errors in the early going at WinSport's Markin MacPhail Centre. She gifted Canada a steal in the opening end by ticking a stone on a blank attempt.

Paetz had a chance for three points in the second end but her stone rolled the wrong way on a double takeout as Switzerland settled for a deuce. Einarson regained the lead by drawing the 12-foot ring for a pair in the third.

The teams exchanged singles until a blank in the seventh end. Paetz made two great shots in the eighth, including a draw for three that gave Switzerland a 6-5 advantage.

Einarson split her two games on Friday's opening day, falling to Sweden before rebounding with a victory over the Czech Republic's Anna Kubeskova.

This competition is the seventh and final event in the curling bubble at WinSport's Markin MacPhail Centre.

In other afternoon games, Russia defeated Italy's Stefania Constantini 8-5, the Czech Republic edged Estonia's Marie Turmann 8-7 and Sweden dumped Denmark's Madeleine Dupont 9-3.

The top six teams in the 14-team field will qualify for the playoffs next weekend and secure berths for their respective countries at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Einarson would have represented Canada at last year's world championship but the event was cancelled at the 11th hour due to the pandemic.

She beat Rachel Homan in the national final for the second straight year to earn the right to wear the Maple Leaf at this 10-day event.

Brendan Bottcher's Alberta-based team made the top-six cut at the world men's playdowns earlier this month but was eliminated in the quarterfinals.