STEINBACH, Man. — The home crowd roared as Team Kerri Einarson secured a spot in the Crown Royal Players' Championship women's final.
Einarson and her Gimli-based club edged Ottawa's Team Rachel Homan 7-6 in an extra end during Saturday night's semifinals.
It was the second extra-end win of the day for Einarson, who stole one in OT against Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå to win 8-7 during the afternoon quarterfinals.
Einarson will take on Team Silvana Tirinzoni, with the Swiss squad reaching a fifth consecutive Grand Slam final, and sixth straight, stretching back to last year's Players' Championship. Tirinzoni topped South Korea's Team Eun-ji Gim 7-4 on the other side of the bracket.
It'll be a special matchup on the men's side as Team Ross Whyte will take on Team Kyle Waddell in an all-Scottish showdown.
Both teams advanced with identical 5-4 scores. Whyte ousted Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller and Waddell defeated China's Team Xu Xiaoming.
It's the third Grand Slam final of the season for Whyte, who finished runner-up to Canada's Team Matt Dunstone in the AMJ Masters in September and to Schwaller in the HearingLife Canadian Open three weeks ago.
Waddell will play in his first Grand Slam final as a skip.
QUARTERFINALS RECAP
Manitoba's own Team Kerri Einarson advanced after eliminating Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå 8-7 in an extra end during the quarterfinals.
Wranå held the hammer and needed to make a double takeout, but missed the shot rock at the back entirely to surrender the winning point.
Einarson's Gimli-based club will face Ottawa's Team Rachel Homan in an all-Canadian clash with a spot in the final on the line.
Homan and Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni earned byes to the semifinals.
Tirinzoni will take on Team Eun-ji Gim after the South Korean club ousted Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States 6-4.
Scotland's Team Ross Whyte also scored a 6-4 victory to knock out Team John Shuster of the United States on the men's side.
China's Team Xu Xiaoming shaded Italy's Team Joël Retornaz 7-5.
Whyte will take on Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller, while Xu plays Scotland's Team Kyle Waddell.
Waddell and Schwaller, who defeated Whyte in last month's HearingLife Canadian Open final, received byes as the top two teams following the conclusion of pool play on Friday.
TIEBREAKERS RECAP
Team John Shuster of the United States upset world No. 1 Scotland's Team Bruce Mouat 8-6 in the men's tiebreaker Saturday morning.
Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå advanced with a 9-1 rout over Japan's Team Satsuki Fujisawa to earn the No. 6 spot on the women's side.
It was a wild back-and-forth contest between Shuster and Mouat.
Shuster opened with the hammer but was forced to draw to the button for a single in the first. The 2018 Olympic gold medallist made an absolutely amazing tap to sit shot rock in the second, forcing Mouat to pick it out for one point as well.
Mouat attempted a double that eliminated one, but the second rock hung onto the 12-foot circle. That gave Shuster an open draw for three.
The 12-time Grand Slam champ Mouat bounced back big time in the fourth, connecting on a hit to score four to retake the lead.
Shuster took two back in the fifth and forced Mouat to hit for a single in the sixth to knot it up.
Although Shuster scored another deuce in seven, that handed Mouat the hammer coming home. Mouat went deep on his first skip stone, and Shuster didn't leave him a shot to tie it up and force an extra end as they shook hands.
Mouat missed the playoffs for the first time since the Masters in December 2023. Through the team's streak of 11 consecutive playoff appearances, Mouat had made it to at least the semifinals in all 11, with seven title victories.
Meanwhile, Wranå flipped the hammer, forcing Fujisawa to a single to start and converting for a deuce in the second.
Fujisawa came up light on her last in the third to concede a steal of two and things only got worse in the fourth end, as she clipped her own rock and gave up four more points. Another steal in five brought out the handshakes.
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Tiebreakers
• Wranå 9, Fujisawa 1
• Shuster 8, Mouat 6
Quarterfinals
• Einarson 8, Wranå 7 (extra end)
• Gim 6, Peterson 4
• Whyte 6, Shuster 4
• Xu 7, Retornaz 5
Semifinals
• Tirinzoni 7, Gim 4
• Einarson 7, Homan 6 (extra end)
• Waddell 5, Xu 4
• Whyte 5, Y. Schwaller 4
