CALGARY — Another two-win day for Kerri Einarson will see Canada advance directly to the semifinal at the World Women’s Curling Championship currently underway in Calgary.
Einarson and her rink of third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Karlee Burgess opened their day with an 11-2 win over Australia’s Helen Williams, setting up a showdown for second place with Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa in the final draw of the round robin.
Both teams came into the contest with 9-2 records and tied for second place, meaning it would be the winner that advanced straight to the semi.
Einarson had a chance to get the blank in the first end, but her takeout attempt on a Fujisawa counter in the four foot would roll into the eight foot instead of leaving the house, and Canada would settle for the single point.
A nice touch-weight takeout by Einarson with her final shot in the second end left Japan with a draw full four foot to salvage the end, but Fujisawa would come up light, and Canada had a 2-0 edge.
Einarson then made another great shot with her final rock in the third — and got Canada out of some trouble in the process — with a double takeout to sit shot in the eight foot. Fujisawa opted to draw for the single point and nearly came in heavy, but would stop just in time to pick up the single.
Things were wide open in the fourth, and Einarson ended up throwing her final stone through for the blank. Canada then had the fifth end set up for multiple points, but a nice double by Fujisawa got Japan out of trouble, and Einarson would get the hit and roll out for another blank.
A great triple takeout by Fujisawa on her first shot in the sixth again got Japan out of a pickle, and Einarson opted to attempt a big weight triple on her final shot for a potential three. She’d get all three Japan rocks but have the shooter just roll out, settling for a pair on one of Canada’s best shots of the week and a 4-1 lead.
Japan came right back with a deuce in the seventh, as Fujisawa was left with a wide open hit-and-stick for a pair that she’d make perfectly to get back within one.
Einarson was at it again in the eighth, making a perfect double hit to move a couple of Japan counters just enough while holding the shooter in the four foot to score a pair and take a 6-3 lead with two ends to play.
Japan faced four Canada counters all around the house with their final shot of the ninth, and Fujisawa would make a tap-back raise to the button to get one and head into the final frame down a pair without hammer.
Canada didn’t leave much to chance in the final end, and Einarson would make a wide-open takeout with her final shot to make it a 6-5 final.
Einarson’s opening game of the day saw Canada roll to a six end 11-2 win over Australia’s Helen Williams in the afternoon draw. Canada got off to a fast start, scoring three in the first, holding Williams to one in the second and putting up a five-spot in the fifth for an 8-1 lead. The teams then exchanged single points the next two ends before Einarson scored two more in the sixth to bring things to an early end.
Scores from the morning draw saw Switzerland’s Xenia Schwaller defeat Italy’s Stephania Constantini 6-4, United States’ Delaney Strouse down Denmark’s Madeleine Dupont 9-4 and Turkiye’s Dilsat Yildiz get past Australia’s Helen Williams 7-5
Other afternoon draw scores included Japan rolling to an 8-1 win over the United States, Norway’s Torild Bjoernstad getting past Scotland’s Fay Henderson 8-6 and Switzerland downing Sweden’s Isaballa Wranaa 7-3.
Other scores from the final draw saw Korea’s Eujin Gim down Demnark 7-4, Turkiye defeat Italy 10-7 and China get past Norway 5-3.
Final standings after the round robin are as follows:
Switzerland (Schwaller) 11-1 Q
Canada (Einarson) 10-2 Q
Japan (Fujisawa) 9-3 Q
Sweden (Wranaa) 8-4 Q
Korea (Gim) 8-4 Q
Turkiye (Yildiz) 7-5 Q
China (Wang) 6-6
Italy (Constantini) 5-7
Norway (Bjoernstad) 5-8
Scotland (Henderson) 4-8
Denmark (Dupont) 3-9
United States (Strouse) 2-10
Australia (Henderson) 1-11
Q – qualified for the playoffs
The playoffs will see Japan taking on Turkiye, with the winner advancing to face Canada, while Sweden and Korea will play for the right to face Switzerland. The first round playoff games are at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the semifinals set for 4 p.m.
The semifinal winners advance to the gold medal game at 3 p.m. on Sunday, with the losing teams moving to the bronze medal game at 9 a.m.
You can catch all the action on TSN and at livescores.worldcurling.org.
