 Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) is off to a strong start in her title defense. By: Cameron Sallaj Reigning Players' champion Silvana Tirinzoni and her Swiss squad from Aarau kicked off the 2025 event in winning fashion, taking down Japan's Momoha Tabata 9-5 in Draw 2 in Toronto. It was a game of control for the four-time world champs with fourth Alina Patz, second Carole Howald and lead Selina Witschonke as they never allowed the Japanese team to lead at any point in the game. The Swiss opened the scoring with one in the second before Tabata got one in the third. Tirinzoni then got two in the fourth before the Japanese put two on the board in five, tying the score again at three. In six, the world silver medalists counted a big three points to double the count 6-3. This proved to be the difference in the game with Tabata only managing two in the seventh end. Facing one on her last in eight, Patz eliminated the lone yellow stone to score three more and lift her team to their first win of the event, 9-5 the final score. It's been another strong year from the Swiss quartet who have qualified for eight finals in their thirteen events played. The team won the Women's Masters Basel and the International Bernese Ladies Cup at home as well as the Swiss European Qualifier and the European Championships. Their consistency has kept them ranked number two in the world behind Team Homan who they once again fell to in the World Championship final two weeks ago. For Team Tabata, the 2024-25 season has been a breakthrough for the young rink which is still a U25 team. Notably, they won the Red Deer Curling Classic and the Saville Shootout against stacked fields while also picking up the ARGO GRAPHICS Cup and the Obihiro ICE Gold Cup at home. Currently ranked eighth, they are the second highest Japanese team behind Fujisawa (#7). Elsewhere in Draw 2, Team Kerri Einarson (1-0; Gimli, MB) kicked things off with a 6-4 win over Team Sayaka Yoshimura (0-1; Sapporo, JPN). Team Mike McEwen (1-0; Saskatoon, SK) doubled the count on Team Joel Retornaz (0-1; Cembra, ITA) 6-3 and Team Bruce Mouat (1-0; Stirling, SCO) downed Team Marc Muskatewitz (0-1; Fuessen, GER) 8-6. The next draw from the 2025 AMJ Players' Championship begins at 6:30 pm ET with the games between Dunstone/Gushue and Hasselborg/Gim featuring commentary on HomeTeamLive. |
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