CALGARY — Sweden’s Isabella Wranå has ended her run at the Humpty’s Champions Cup on a high note.
The 19-year-old world junior champion stole points in five ends during a 6-2 upset win Friday over Scotland’s Eve Muirhead to earn her first career win in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling.
Wranå (1-3) played the spoiler as the loss also dropped Muirhead to a 1-3 record and eliminated the four-time Grand Slam champ from playoff contention.
Muirhead opened with hammer, but struggled from the start. With Wranå sitting two counters during the opening end, Muirhead drew in on top with her first skip stone. The 2013 world champ Muirhead misfired on her last as it clicked off her own and handed Wrana a point.
There was a quarry in the second end with 14 rocks in play prior to Muirhead’s last, but she wrecked on a guard to give up one more point. Wranå hit and rolled out to clean the house in three and Muirhead threw her last through the rings to blank and go back to the drawing board.
That didn’t work out either as Muirhead surrendered another steal in four. Looking to make a double in five, Muirhead only connected with one and Wranå swiped another.
Muirhead finally made it onto the scoreboard in seven with an open hit for two. Wranå finally got hold of the hammer in eight. She faced three with her last, but just had to make one disappear and hit and stuck.
Champions Cup: Live scores & standings | TV schedule
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Alina Paetz is clear through to the playoffs at 4-0 following a 7-5 extra-end win over Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (2-1).
Paetz potted pairs of points in the second and fourth frames and stole one in five to go up 5-2. Jones settled for a single in six, but stole in seven and eight to force the extra. Paetz didn’t need to throw her last in the extra though and escaped with the win as Jones missed on her last.
It was a rematch of the 2015 world championship final where Paetz topped Jones to win the gold medal.
The top eight men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the weekend playoffs. Three more draws are on tap Friday with TV coverage resuming at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) or gsoc.yaretv.com (international).
