CALGARY — Canada’s Kerri Einarson is off to a perfect start at the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship.
Einarson and her rink of third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Karlee Burgess opened the event in Calgary with a 7-5 victory over Sweden’s Isabella Wranaa on Saturday afternoon before rolling to an 11-3 victory over the United States’ Delaney Strouse in the evening draw.
As a result, Einarson alone in first place after Day 1 of the event, with 10 games to play in the week-long round robin.
Against the U.S., both skips faced pressure draws on their final stones in the early ends, and both skips were up to the task — after blanking the first, Einarson drew a piece of the button for one in the second end and Strouse drew the pin for one in the third.
Things set up far better for Canada in the fourth end, though, and after Strouse came up light on a freeze attempt on her last rock, Einarson had a touch take out for three. She’d make no mistake with a hit-and-stick to give Canada a 4-1 lead heading into the fifth end.
There, it was the United States’ turn to put up a multiple point frame, as after Einarson made a double takeout to lay one with the U.S. as second shot, Strouse would make a wide-open hit and stick for the deuce.
Things were looking a touch rough for Canada heading into Einarson’s rocks in the sixth, but a couple of great shots — including an angle double with her final rock — would see a pair go on the board and Canada take a 6-3 lead.
Strouse faced a bunch of Canada counters with her final shot in the seventh and had an open hit on an Einarson counter in the four foot for one, but she’d wreck on a Canada rock at the top of the house to give up a steal of four.
A 10-3 lead with three ends to play is all but academic for a rink the calibre of Einarson, and they’d add another steal in the eighth to bring things to an early end.
It was a far closer outing during Canada’s opening contest against Sweden, with Wranaa picking up a deuce in the opening end and going on to a 3-2 lead through four. Einarson tied things up the next frame and stole two in the sixth to go up 5-3 before adding another steal in the eighth to lead by three with two ends to play. Sweden picked up a pair in the ninth to make things interesting, but Canada finished things off with a single point in the 10th for the 7-5 win.
Other scores from the opening draw saw China’s Rui Wang take a 7-6 extra end win over Scotland’s Fay Henderson, Turkiye’s Dilsat Yildiz defeat Norway’s Torild Bjoernstad 8-7 in an extra end and Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa get past Switzerland’s Xenia Schwaller 6-3.
Other results from the evening draw saw Korea’s Eunji Gim take a 14-5 win over Italy’s Stefania Constantini, Switzerland down China 6-5 and Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont score four in the final two ends to get past Australia’s Helen Williams 11-7.
Standings after two draws are as follows:
Canada (Einarson) 2-0
Denmark (Dupont) 1-0
Japan (Fujisawa) 1-0
Korea (Gim) 1-0
Turkiye (Yildiz) 1-0
China (Wang) 1-1
Switzerland (Schwaller) 1-1
Australia (Williams) 0-1
Italy (Constantini) 0-1
Norway (Bjoernstad) 0-1
Scotland (Henderson) 0-1
Sweden (Wranaa) 0-1
United States (Strouse) 0-1
Canada plays a single game on Sunday, that at 1:30 p.m.. against China.
Be sure to keep an eye on www.worldcurling.org for up-to-date scores and information throughout the tournament.
