By Jonathan Brazeau
SASKATOON — Satsuki Fujisawa advanced to the HearingLife Canadian Open women's final on a historic night for Japanese curling.
For the first time in a Grand Slam of Curling event, three Japanese women's teams reached the semifinals.
Fujisawa faced Momoha Tabata and came from behind to win 7-5 Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place.
Sayaka Yoshimura, who will represent Japan at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, reached the semis on the other side of the bracket but came up just short, losing 5-4 to Silvana Tirinzoni's Swiss squad.
It's the second career final in the series for Fujisawa, whose team became the first from Japan to win a Grand Slam title in the Canadian Open in 2023.
"I love winning the game, but I love making history even more," said Chinami Yoshida, who throws third stones for Fujisawa.
After Team Tabata took two in the third and stole one in the fourth to go up 4-1, Fujisawa fired back with a three-ender in the fifth to tie it and stole two in the sixth for the lead as Tabata's fourth Miku Nihira's in-off and roll stopped short.
Nihira looked to make a split for two in the seventh, but wrecked on a guard to give up another point, and could only count one in the eighth.
"I'm so happy to win in the Canadian Open again," Yoshida said. "There are lots (fans in) the audience, so we're really looking forward to (the final)."
Meanwhile, Alina Pätz helped Team Tirinzoni break a 1-1 tie with a deuce in the fourth. After singles back and forth, Yoshimura got the equalizing two points in the seventh.
Pätz didn't need to throw her last in the eighth, as her team already sat shot rock, and Yoshimura's raise attempt was unable to eliminate it.
The five-time Grand Slam champ Tirinzoni said she never gets tired of reaching finals.
"That's great," she said. "It was a very nerve-racking game, so I’m very relieved and looking forward to tomorrow."
It might be a bit more of the same in Sunday's final.
"A very dangerous team, they like to junk it up, so it's gonna be another crazy game tomorrow. That's what I expect," Tirinzoni said. "They are a fantastic team."
Tirinzoni's red-hot run in the series continued, as her team has made it to all four Grand Slam women's finals this season and five straight dating back to last season. The Aarau-based club faced Canada's Team Rachel Homan in the previous finals, winning the Players' Championship in April and finishing runner-up in the three fall events.
"It's actually our eighth final in the season. We only didn't make the final in one tournament, so it's been an amazing run," Tirinzoni said. "It's unbelievable how consistent the team is, and I’m very proud of that."
Fujisawa denied Homan an opportunity to extend her streak with a 5-4 victory earlier Saturday in the quarterfinals. That also ended Homan's record run of consecutive Grand Slam women's finals appearances at eight.
It's the third time Merlis Belsher Place has hosted a Grand Slam event — and Tirinzoni has reached the women's final in all three. She captured the 2019 Champions Cup in the venue and finished runner-up in the 2023 Masters.
"We feel very welcomed here," Tirinzoni said. "We have a few friends from Switzerland. This is the best, I think, to have them coming all over the ocean to support us. Then we also have some fans in Saskatchewan, which is even nicer, so this is great."
WHYTE VS. SCHWALLER SHOWDOWN IN MEN'S FINAL
Meanwhile, Scotland's Team Ross Whyte will take on Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller for the men's title.
Whyte squared off against Team Bruce Mouat in a "Stirling derby" matchup between clubmates and came out on top 6-4.
Oddly enough, Whyte was also a finalist here at the 2023 Masters and is looking to take the next step.
"Yeah, it's great. We clearly have some good memories here," said Whyte, who captured his first Grand Slam title during last season's Masters at the start of 2025. "That was our first-ever final we'd made, and we've managed to win one since, so hopefully we can go one further tomorrow.
"But it's gonna be very tough against Team Schwaller. They look like they're playing great. They've not lost one this week. It's gonna be a grind out there, but hopefully we can get over the line."
After delivering a nose-hit double for the tying two points in the seventh, Whyte stole two in the eighth as Mouat's last rock rolled too deep.
It was a bit of revenge after Whyte lost 7-0 in three ends to Mouat during last weekend's semifinals in the RBC Dominion Securities Western Showdown tour event in Swift Current, Sask.
"Last week was a bit of a tough one. We really didn't play our best. They made a lot more shots than we did," Whyte said. "We kind of knew that if we kept this game close today, if it went down to the wire, you just never know. It goes to 50/50 at that point, and thankfully, it went our way this time.
"We know that those boys are so tough to beat, they don't get beaten very much, so the fact that we managed to do it today is a great feeling."
Schwaller moved on with a 7-5 win over Team John Shuster of the United States.
"It's great," Schwaller said. "The boys are playing great. We had a good tournament, and I hope we can continue tomorrow.
"Right now, I'm also a bit frustrated because it was one of my worst games since two or three months individually, but the boys kept me in it. Benoît (Schwarz-van Berkel) played amazing, put on a clinic, which helped us go through to the finals."
Team Schwaller scored three in the first and led 4-1 after three, but Shuster got back in it with a deuce in the fourth and a steal of one in the fifth to tie it up.
Schwarz-van Berkel, who throws the last rocks for Schwaller, tapped for two points in the sixth end to grab a 6-4 advantage, and Shuster was forced to a single in the seventh. Schwarz-van Berkel tacked on another point for Team Schwaller in the eighth.
"They were good. We let them come back, though. We had a great start, being two up with hammer in third. We gave them opportunities, mainly on my rocks, but usually, they were good," Schwaller said.
"They put on some pressure. They were there when we made mistakes, so we had to fight back. Benoît, with a nice tap in the sixth, gave us a little bit of relief again."
This will be Schwaller's third career Grand Slam men's final as he seeks his first title in the series.
"I hope the third time is a lucky charm," he said.
Whyte, who finished runner-up in the AMJ Masters to start the Grand Slam season, is also looking to end 2025 on a positive note.
"There's been a lot of ups and downs, especially in this season itself. We had a lot of quarterfinal losses, which have hurt, to be honest," he said. "But we keep grinding, we keep going back out and practising, kind of don't let anything let us get us down.
"We're just going to keep coming back and here we are, back in a final. We're just hoping it goes our way tomorrow."
HOW TO WATCH
The women's final goes down first at Noon ET / 11 a.m. CT followed by the men's final at 4:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. CT.
Tune in to watch.rockchannel.com or Sportsnet.
TIER 2
It's an all-Canadian clash in the HearingLife Canadian Open Tier 2 women's final between Team Kaitlyn Lawes and Team Taylor Reese-Hansen (11:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. CT).
Norway's Team Magnus Ramsfjell meets Switzerland's Team Michael Brunner in the men's final (4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT).
Watch both finals live on watch.rockchannel.com.
The Tier 2 took place at the Martensville Curling Club in Martensville, Sask. Both Tier 2 finals will be played alongside the Tier 1 finals.
