Tirinzoni tops Einarson to remain undefeated at Princess Auto Players’ Championship

TORONTO — Silvana Tirinzoni and her Swiss squad continue to roll through the Princess Auto Players’ Championship.

Tirinzoni topped Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., 7-3 in six ends during Draw 9 Thursday to improve to 4-0 in the Grand Slam of Curling season finale at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

With one round-robin game remaining Friday against South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim, Team Tirinzoni are aiming to keep their unblemished record intact and secure a bye to the semifinals heading into the weekend playoffs.

“It means a lot,” said Alina Pätz, who throws fourth stones for Tirinzoni. “We want to go straight to the semis, if possible, which means we have to win the next game. We’ll just do our best to keep our performance up and then see what’s coming to the end.”

Tirinzoni snapped a 1-1 tie in the third and broke the game wide open as Pätz pulled off a tricky shot to nudge their own rock and punch aside Einarson’s shot stone from the button to score a critical four points.

“It was really a team shot,” Pätz said. “The rest of the team built a good end there and she made a great shot there with her last one. We knew it was a tough shot, but we had to try it. We thought at this point we could afford a steal, so we just went for the shot and it worked out.”

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Einarson (0-3) was forced to draw for just a single in the fourth and Pätz made a hit for two in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

The five-time Grand Slam champion Einarson was limited to another point in six and shook hands.

“They’re obviously a good team and it’s always a battle,” Pätz said. “It ended a little early for us today, which is good, but it was still a battle. We had to make some good shots to take that four-ender. It feels great.”

Elsewhere in Draw 9, Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini (1-2) earned an 8-5 win over Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa (1-3).

In men’s play, Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., bounced Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe 6-1 in only five ends.

Gushue (3-1) scored two in the first then slid away with steals of one in the second, two in the third and another point in the fourth. Koe (1-2) broke the shutout with a single in the fifth and shook hands.

Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz (2-2) levelled their record with an 8-4 decision against Scotland’s Team James Craik (1-2).

UP NEXT

The Princess Auto Players’ Championship continues with Draw 10 at 3:30 p.m. ET. Watch live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

NOTES

The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the 2023-24 season featuring the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world. … Both divisions are split into two pools of six for round-robin play. The best six teams advance to the playoffs with the top two teams receiving byes to the semifinals. If necessary, a tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff berths. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals on tap Sunday.

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