VICTORIA — Better late than never, Japan's Team Miyu Ueno and Switzerland's Team Alina Pätz secured the final Co-op Invitational playoff spots after taking a detour through the tiebreakers.
Ueno came from behind to defeat fellow Japanese club Team Yuina Miura 9-7, while Pätz topped Italy's Team Giulia Zardini Lacedelli 5-4 Saturday morning.
Trailing 4-0 after two, Ueno bounced back with a big three-ender in the third, and tied it with a steal in the fourth.
After Miura was limited to a single in five, Ueno scored another three-count to pull ahead 7-5.
Ueno tied it again with a deuce in the seventh; however, Ueno matched with a pair of points in the eighth to complete the comeback.
The Co-op Invitational is the top-tier Grand Slam of Curling debut for Ueno, who will face Canada's Team Kerri Einarson in the women's quarterfinals (3 p.m. ET / Noon PT; Sportsnet One, Sportsnet+, ESPN+, DAZN, Rock Channel).
The teams met earlier in the week during the preliminary round, with Ueno earning a 9-4 upset victory on Wednesday. That was the lone loss for Einarson, who qualified for the playoffs with a 3-1 record (nine points) to take the No. 2 seed.
Pätz will play No. 1 seed Team Xenia Schwaller in another matchup between the top two Swiss clubs.
Schwaller (3-1, nine points) doubled up on Pätz 6-3 Thursday afternoon for her first win in five matchups between them this season.
Ueno, Miura, Pätz and Zardini Lacedelli all finished the preliminary round with 2-2 records (six points).
The other two women's quarterfinal matchups are: South Korea's Team Eun-ji Gim (3-1, nine points) vs. Sweden's Team Anna Hasselborg (3-1, eight points), and Sweden's Team Bo-bae Kang, skipped by Kyeong-ae Kim (3-1, eight points), vs. Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå (3-1, nine points).
