Homan steals spot from Yoshimura in AMJ Players' Championship semifinals

TORONTO — Rachel Homan’s incredible season continued as her Canadian club advanced to the AMJ Players’ Championship semifinals.

Homan stole two points in the eighth end to edge Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura 6-4 during Saturday’s women's quarterfinals.

Yoshimura had to draw for at least a piece of the button to score the winning point and rolled deep to the back of the four-foot circle.

Homan improved to a 74-7 record on the season, having won two Grand Slam titles while successfully defending the Canadian and world championships.

The record 17-time Grand Slam of Curling women’s champion is seeking her first at the AMJ Players’ Championship to become just the second women’s skip to win every active title in the series.

Anna Hasselborg was the first, and her Swedish squad is also still in it to win it after eliminating South Korea’s Team Seung-youn Ha 6-3 in the other quarterfinal matchup.

Homan will face South Korea’s Team Eun-jung Kim while Hasselborg plays defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in the evening semifinals.

Kim, Tirinzoni, Homan and Hasselborg all finished pool play with identical 4-1 records. However, Kim and Tirinzoni had superior draw-to-the-button shootout averages to top the table and earned byes to the semifinals.

Playoff action continues with the men’s quarterfinals at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).

Both games are all-Canadian affairs with Team Mike McEwen vs. Team Matt Dunstone (winner plays Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller in the semifinals) and Team John Epping vs. Team Brad Jacobs (winner plays Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat).

The men's and women's semifinals are set for 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT (Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+).