By Jonathan Brazeau
LONDON, Ont. — Silvana Tirinzoni and her Swiss squad continue to cruise through the AMJ Masters.
Tirinzoni topped Pool D with an unblemished 3-0 record following a convincing 8-3 victory over Japan's Team Satsuki Fujisawa during Draw 11 Thursday at the Western Fair Sports Centre.
"It feels great. To be 3-0 at the Grand Slam is always a great feeling, so we’re very happy about our performance," said Alina Pätz, who throws fourth stones for Team Tirinzoni. "I think the ice was pretty tricky this week, and I think we handled it pretty good as a team. Just happy to come out with one more win."
During the preliminary round and tiebreakers, the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season features a draw to the button to determine the winner instead of extra ends. Teams receive three points for a regulation win (in eight ends or less), two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. Extra ends will return for the playoffs.
Tirinzoni, who has clinched a playoff berth, leads the way in the women's division with nine points and has one preliminary game remaining Friday against an opponent to be determined.
Teams wrap up round-robin play against a team from an opposing pool based on the standings. Tirinzoni will cross over to face the lowest-ranked team from Pool B, and her team is ready for whoever that may be.
"I think it’s fun. I mean, we’re 3-0, so we can be happy anyway, I would say. It’s not very nerve-racking for us right now," Pätz said.
"But of course, you get a little nervous when you don’t know your opponent, and especially at what time you’re playing, but I’m looking forward to it no matter who it is and no matter what time we play."
Tirinzoni opened the scoring with a deuce in the second end and capitalized in the fourth after Fujisawa missed her shot, allowing Pätz to draw to score four points and take a 6-1 lead into the break.
Fujisawa missed a double in the fifth to give up a steal. She was unable to connect on another one in the sixth, however, the single hit was enough to score two and cut into the deficit to 7-3.
Tirinzoni tacked another point on the board in the seventh, and Fujisawa (1-2, three points) shook hands.
Elsewhere, Canada's Team Rachel Homan also remained undefeated with a 7-3 win over Japan's Team Sayaka Yoshimura.
Yoshimura (1-2, three points) was up 3-2 in the sixth end when her draw shot rolled heavy, allowing Homan to grab the lead for good with a draw to count three.
The 17-time Grand Slam champ Homan (3-0, eight points) stole two more points for insurance in the seventh, and out came the handshakes.
Sweden's Team Anna Hasselborg got back on track with a 7-3 win over Canada's Team Kerri Einarson.
Hasselborg improved to a 2-1 record (six points), while Einarson dropped to 1-2 (three points).
Sweden's Team Niklas Edin defeated Switzerland's Team Marco Hösli 6-4 in the lone men's game on the draw.
Edin moved up to a 2-1 record (six points), with Hösli now at 1-2 (two points).
UP NEXT
Round-robin play continues with Draw 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT. Tickets are available at GSOCtickets.com with live online streaming at rockchannel.com plus broadcast coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
NOTES
The AMJ Masters features 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams.
Preliminary play runs through to Friday with the top eight teams qualifying for the playoffs. If necessary, tiebreakers will be played Saturday morning. The quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Saturday. Both finals are scheduled for Sunday.
