RED DEER, Alta. — Anna Hasselborg and her undefeated Swedish squad scored the No. 1 seed for the Co-op Canadian Open women’s playoffs.
Hasselborg wrapped up round-robin play Friday night with a 6-4 decision against Winnipeg’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes in Draw 16 at Servus Arena.
The seven-time Grand Slam of Curling women’s champion Hasselborg posted a perfect 4-0 record through pool play and the lowest draw-to-the-button shootout total at 17.0 cm to lock down the No. 1 spot heading into Saturday’s quarterfinals.
“It’s been a while, so it feels so good,” said Sara McManus who throws third on Team Hasselborg. “This is exactly the spot we want to be at. To finish off with two great games, that feels so nice just having good confidence right now.”
It would have been hard to picture Team Hasselborg going on a 4-0 run to start the week as they needed to channel Kevin Koe and his down-to-the-wire skill set to squeak out wins in their first two games.
“That is not how we want to go,” McManus said with a laugh. “We do not want to keep on the Koe trend, but they wrote they were proud of us, so I guess we did it good. That was stressful the first two games.”
Hasselborg will face the winner of a morning tiebreaker between Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones and Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States.
Lawes, who needed the victory for a chance to bump Peterson from the tiebreaker game, was eliminated with a 1-3 record.
Team Hasselborg secured the hammer to start, and the skip pulled off a tough slash double takeout that was on the mark to score a deuce.
“This is what we really tried to aim for because winning the hammer is so important in every game,” McManus said. “We put a lot of effort going into trying to win the hammer every game.”
Lawes drew for two right back in the second but fell into trouble in the third end and needed to make a double takeout to limit the damage. Hasselborg hit to count another couple of points and retake the lead 4-2.
Opportunities were lost in the following two ends. Lawes was unable to keep up the pace as a chance to make a nose hit for a pair in the fourth was off the target and rolled away for just a single. Hasselborg also had to settle for one in the fifth as her draw came up light.
The point that got away from Hasselborg came back in the sixth in the form of a steal as Lawes’ runback wrecked on a guard to make it 6-3.
Facing three counters in the seventh, Lawes tapped for a single to close back within two but that handed the hammer back to Hasselborg for the final end.
Hasselborg didn’t need to throw her last in the eighth though, as Lawes needed to sit two but clipped her guard on the way.
“It was a fun game to play,” McManus said. “Kaitlyn and the team will always give you a good game, so it’s going to be so tough, but I’m very proud of the team today.”
Elsewhere in Draw 16, Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan (3-1) advanced with an 8-3 win over Team Delaney Strouse (0-4) from the United States.
South Korea’s Team Eun-Jung Kim also clinched a playoff berth at 3-1 by defeating Team Isabella Wrana 7-2 and eliminating the Swedish squad (2-2) based on shootout totals.
South Korea’s Team Eun-Ji Gim (3-1) made it through with a 7-3 victory versus Winnipeg’s Team Kate Cameron (0-4).
TIEBREAKERS (SATURDAY, 10:30 A.M. ET / 8:30 A.M. MT; NO TV)
• Team Brad Gushue vs. Team Kevin Koe
• Team Jennifer Jones vs. Team Tabitha Peterson
MEN’S QUARTERFINALS (SATURDAY, 2 P.M. ET / NOON MT; SPORTSNET ONE, SPORTSNET+)
• Team Yannick Schwaller vs. Tiebreaker winner
• Team Brendan Bottcher vs. Team Matt Dunstone
• Team Bruce Mouat vs. Team James Craik
• Team Ross Whyte vs. Team Joël Retornaz
WOMEN’S QUARTERFINALS (SATURDAY, 6 P.M. ET / 4 P.M. MT; SPORTSNET ONE, SPORTSNET+)
• Team Anna Hasselborg vs. Tiebreaker winner
• Team Eun-Ji Gim vs. Team Rachel Homan
• Team Silvana Tirinzoni vs. Team Eun-Jung Kim
• Team Kerri Einarson vs. Team Satsuki Fujisawa
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. … The semifinals are also on tap Saturday at 10 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+. … Both finals are scheduled for Sunday.
