CRANBROOK, B.C. — Recent Masters winner Allison Flaxey has kept the momentum going and is off to a 2-0 start at the Tour Challenge.
Flaxey, of Caledon, Ont., fended off a late surge from Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni in Draw 3 action Wednesday afternoon winning 8-7 in an extra end.
Tirinzoni, the defending Tour Challenge champion, had the hammer in the first end and settled for a single. Sitting shot with no chance to beat the cluster of rocks for two, Tirinzoni threw her last away. Flaxey scored three in the second end to take the lead, forced Tirinzoni to hit and stick for just a single in three and added another trey in four to lead 6-2 at the break.
The gap closed in the second half as Tirinzoni took two in the fifth. The teams alternated singles in six and seven and Tirinzoni stole two in eight to force the extra frame.
Flaxey earned her first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling trophy just over a week ago in Okotoks, Alta.
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Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champ Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg picked up a 5-3 victory versus Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., in a repeat of the 2013 Canadian Olympic Trials final.
Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg scored three in the eighth to lift her Swedish squad to a 7-5 win over 2015 world champ Alina Paetz of Switzerland.
In men’s division action, Team Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., skipped by Mark Nichols, crushed Scotland’s Kyle Smith 9-4.
Nichols pulled away with a three count in the third and a fiver in the fifth. Regular vice Nichols is skipping the team for the seventh consecutive event with skip Brad Gushue out due to a hip injury. Adam Spencer is filling in at third.
American John Shuster held off Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton 6-5.
NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the second of seven events on the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule. … TV coverage begins Thursday at 3 p.m. ET / Noon PT on Sportsnet and online/mobile at Sportsnet NOW. … Tour Challenge action continues Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. MT. … The Tour Challenge runs through to Sunday at Western Financial Place (all Tier 1 games and Tier 2 finals) and Memorial Arena (Tier 2 games from round-robin play to semifinals).
