OKOTOKS, Alta. — It was wins-day Wednesday for Ottawa’s Rachel Homan at the WFG Masters.
Homan picked up a pair of victories to start her title defence at the tournament 2-0 wrapping up the evening action defeating Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque 7-6 in an extra end.
Team Homan, who won seven tour events last year including three Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling championships, have picked up where they left off. Homan has already earned two titles this season and is fresh off of capturing the Canad Inns Women’s Classic this past Monday in Portage la Prairie, Man.
“We really had to battle through that last game but it’s nice to finish the day with two wins,” Team Homan lead Lisa Weagle said. “We love playing in the Masters and we love playing in all of the Slams. We just came off a win in Portage and it was important to then come here. Just happy to be here.”
After Homan scored three in the first, Rocque looked to make a gentle runback of her own stone to grab shot while facing three counters, however, she was just a little too light on the hit and gave up a steal of one.
Rocque was forced to settle for a single in the third, but swiped three points in the fourth to rally back and tie it 4-4 when Homan’s last was light out of her hands and didn’t hit the paint.
The teams alternated singles in five and six and again through seven and eight to keep pace and force the extra.
Homan made the open hit with her last in the extra end to secure the victory.
Rachel Homan hits the winner in the extra end to defeat Kelsey Rocque #GSOC #2016WFGmasters #curling pic.twitter.com/dcCfyMYViY
— Grand Slam Curling (@grandslamcurl) October 27, 2016
Homan topped Alina Paetz of Switzerland 5-3 during the afternoon.
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Meanwhile, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg also went 2-for-2 on Wednesday. Following a sketchy steal in an extra over Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson, Hasselborg held off Edmonton’s Val Sweeting 6-5.
“We have been enjoying it a lot,” Hasselborg said. “It’s our first Masters and winning makes it really good. The first game we stole for the win so you can’t count that one, maybe, but we have been playing good so it feels good.”
Sweeting, the 2014 Masters champion, fell to 0-2.
Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones went 1-1 on the day capped with a 9-7 win over Anna Sidorova of Russia.
Meanwhile, reigning Olympic men’s champ Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., also moved up to a 2-0 record picking up a 4-3 extra-end victory over Glenn Howard, of Penetanguishene, Ont.
Jacobs made an incredible triple runback double with his last shot to defeat Niklas Edin of Sweden during the afternoon draw.
It's the shot of the year and the year just started! @TeamBradJacobs with a sick triple runback double for the win! #GSOC #curling pic.twitter.com/wN5xpFlGQf
— Grand Slam Curling (@grandslamcurl) October 26, 2016
World champ Kevin Koe of Calgary earned a 7-4 victory over John Shuster of Duluth, Minn. Koe improved to a 1-1 record while Shuster dropped to 0-2.
NOTES: The WFG Masters is the first of seven events on the 2016-17 Pinty’s GSOC schedule. … The event is also the first of four majors in the series alongside the Boost National, Meridian Canadian Open and WestJet Players’ Championship. … Television coverage begins Thursday on Sportsnet. … The WFG Masters runs through to Sunday at Pason Centennial Arena with action resuming Thursday at 9 a.m. MT.