CRANBROOK, B.C. — Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque is still in the mix at the Tour Challenge powering past Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson 11-5 during Draw 12 action Friday.
Rocque will play Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in a tiebreaker Saturday morning after the defending champion finished off Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson 5-3 to move on.
The two-time world junior champ Rocque said it was nice to play for another day.
“We knew we had to go out there and win that,” Rocque said. “It feels good to come away with a win and give ourselves a chance moving forward.”
Rocque (2-2) sat a trio of counters in the first and stole the end as Einarson’s last just glanced off one of them and rolled out.
Einarson had an opportunity to tie it in the second after Rocque’s last went clear past the house however her final rock of the end followed the path and also rolled through the rings.
Rocque made it rain threes again like Steph Curry in the third end with a great double takeout to count another trey and go ahead 6-2.
Einarson sat two prior to her last in the fourth, but clipped a guard with her final rock and took just the the pair. The teams traded singles in five and six and Rocque put the game away with a four score in seven.
“It wasn’t the most well-played game but we took advantage of the opportunities that we had,” Rocque said. “It’s nice to come out with a win.”
Both Einarson and Sigfridsson head home with 0-4 records.
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Meanwhile, Edmonton’s Val Sweeting is through to the quarterfinals at 3-1 after defeating Alina Paetz of Switzerland 6-3. Paetz is out at 1-3.
Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg will play in a tiebreaker during the evening draw alongside Chelsea Carey of Calgary and Michelle Englot’s Winnipeg-based team.
In men’s division action, John Morris (4-0) of Vernon, B.C., clinched the top seed on the men’s side of the playoffs taking down David Murdoch 8-3. Morris broke a tie game with a three count in the fifth end and stole two in the sixth to bring out handshakes and eliminate the Scottish side (1-3).
American John Shuster levelled his record at 2-2 to stay in play downing Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-2 in five ends. McEwen moves on with a 3-1 record.
NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the second of seven events on the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule. … Tour Challenge action continues Friday at 8 p.m. MT with TV coverage on Sportsnet East, Ontario, Pacific and ONE and online/mobile on Sportsnet NOW. … 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).
