RED DEER, Alta. — Kerri Einarson and her Gimli, Man., club will, pardon the pun, carry an unblemished 4-0 record into the Co-op Canadian Open quarterfinals.
Team Einarson earned a 5-4 victory over Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones during Draw 14 Friday in their final round-robin game at Servus Arena.
Jones now holds a 2-2 record and remains in contention with the playoff picture still taking shape.
“Going into that game, we knew we had a playoff spot, but we wanted to go 4-0,” said Einarson, who curled a team-leading 94 per cent. “You want to get hammer throughout the event into playoffs, so that was something we said to ourselves when we were coming into this game. We came with a lot of intensity and played really well.”
The Co-op Canadian Open is Einarson’s last event heading to next month’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts where she is aiming for a record fifth consecutive Canadian women’s championship. Einarson is also looking to complete a career Grand Slam here as the Co-op Canadian Open is the last of the four majors missing from her resume.
“This is one of the biggest events going into the Scotties for us,” Einarson said. “We’ve got a couple training weekends in between that, so this will be good momentum going in.”
Jones hit and stuck around to convert for two points in the first end, but the 10-time Grand Slam champion was light and tight on a guard in the second. That allowed Einarson to ease her last into the four-foot circle with an open draw to tie it up.
After back-to-back blanks, Jones was forced to tap for just a single in the fifth while facing three counters and Einarson was able to jump ahead in the sixth with an open hit for three and a 5-3 lead.
“We haven’t had hammer (to start) this whole event, so we’re used to that,” Einarson said. “We played a really good end in the first end, she just made one really great shot. Then to come back with a deuce, it was perfect. We kept it going with a couple blanks and we made sure to score in those even ends.”
Jones blanked again in the seventh to retain the hammer coming home and had an opportunity to draw for a tying two points, however, her shooter rolled too far.
Elsewhere in Draw 14, Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland also completed a 4-0 run through pool play with a 6-3 win over Edmonton’s Team Selena Sturmay (1-3).
Defending champions Team Satsuki Fujisawa from Japan clinched a playoff spot at 3-1 after scoring a single in the eighth end to edge Winnipeg’s Team Jolene Campbell 6-5.
Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States pitched a 6-0 shutout against Scotland’s Team Rebecca Morrison to stay in the mix with a 2-2 record.
Team Morrison and Team Campbell both head home winless with 0-4 records.
UP NEXT
The Co-op Canadian Open continues with Draw 15 at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. MT on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+.
NOTES
The Co-op Canadian Open is the fourth event of the Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening with the best eight teams in both divisions advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals. If necessary, a tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff berths. … The semifinals are also on tap Saturday with both finals scheduled for Sunday.
