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 In the first round of the women's playoff bracket, Tirinzoni (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) beat Kim while Gim bested Hasselborg to advance. By: Cameron Sallaj Saturday morning in Toronto saw the first round of playoffs at the Princess Auto Players' Championship with the women taking center stage. Fourth seed Team Silvana Tirinzoni (4-1; Aarau, SUI) took on fifth seed Team Kim Eun-jung (3-2; Gangneung, KOR) while third seed Team Gim Eun-ji (4-1; Uijeongbu, KOR) faced sixth seed Team Anna Hasselborg (3-2; Sundbyberg, SWE). It was a good start for the Tirinzoni rink, including fourth Alina Paetz, second Selina Witschonke and lead Carole Howald as they opened their quarterfinal against Kim with two points. They then stole one in the second end to quickly open up a 3-0 lead. The Korean team, including Kim Eun-jung, Kim Kyeong-ae, Kim Cho-hi, Kim Seon-yeong and Kim Yeong-mi tightened the score with a deuce of their own in the third end before forcing the Swiss to one in the fourth, making the game 4-2. Through five and six, the two teams traded singles with Tirinzoni continuing to hold a two-point edge. Then in seven, a costly flash by Kim Eun-jung on her last rock put Tirinzoni three up coming home, a deficit the Koreans could not recover from. The other quarterfinal match was not so close to start with Korea's Team Gim starting the game with an open hit for four points. Team Hasselborg, with Hasselborg, Sara McManus, Agnes Knochenhauer and Sofia Mabergs quickly fought back, however, taking deuces in ends two and four while holding the Koreans to just one in the third. Only up by one in five, the Korean champions of Gim, Kim Min-ji, Kim Su-ji, Seol Ye-eun and Seol Ye-ji were able to execute an angle slash to count two, putting them back ahead by three. With a chance for three to tie the score in six, Hasselborg misfired on her last rock, rolling her shooter and one of her own stones out of the rings to just count one point. This put Team Gim in the driving seat with two ends left to play, up 7-5. Despite the lead, skip Gim could not close the deal on her last rock of either the seventh or eighth ends, allowing the Swedes to tie the game and send it into overtime. There, the Korean skip made no mistake with her last rock to count the single and secure her team's semifinal berth, 8-7 the final score. As the lower seeded of the two advancing rinks, Team Tirinzoni will face top seeded Team Rachel Homan (5-0; Ottawa, ON) in a rematch of the world championship final. The two sides also met in the finals of the last two Slams, the Masters and the Canadian Open, with Homan winning both of those games as well. The other semifinal sees Team Gim take on defending Players' champions Team Isabella Wrana (4-1; Sundbyberg, SWE). The Swedish side advanced directly through to the second round of the playoffs thanks to an incomparable 43.3 last stone draw total. Team Wrana is trying to qualify for their second Slam final while Team Gim is looking to qualify for their third. Action from the Princess Auto Players' Championship resumes at 3:30 PM ET with the men's quarterfinals on tap. Canadian champions Team Brad Gushue go against Scottish champions Team Ross Whyte while world champions Team Niklas Edin face four-time Slam champions Team Joel Retornaz. Teams Mike McEwen and Bruce Mouat await the winners in the semifinals. |
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Kitami's Satsuki Fujisawa (Photo: Hokkaido Curling Tour) was clinical in 2025-26 tour debut.
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