TRURO, N.S. — Ottawa’s Rachel Homan qualified for the playoffs of the Pinty’s GSOC Masters with a 5-3 come-from-behind win over Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson on Thursday afternoon.
Trailing by two after three ends, Homan scored one in the fourth and stole two points in the sixth end to go ahead 4-3. Team Sigfridsson fourth Maria Prytz’s final shot in eight was heavy and Homan swiped another point to ice the game.
Sigfridsson fell to a 0-3 record and has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Meanwhile, Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland is up to a 2-1 record with a 6-3 win over Tracy Fleury, of Sudbury, Ont. Tirinzoni, the Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner, scored deuces in the second and fifth ends, stole points in six and seven and ran Fleury (0-3) out of rocks in eight.
GSOC Masters Live: Men’s scores | Women’s scores
Kristy McDonald also climbed to a 2-1 record with a 6-3 win over Kerri Einarson in an all-Winnipeg rink match.
McDonald trailed 2-1 at the break and took control scoring two in the fifth and stealing a pair in six. Einarson had to settle for one in seven and McDonald added another point in the final frame.
Einarson (1-2) won the Tour Challenge Tier 2 event in September to earn a berth at the Masters.
Russia’s Anna Sidorova rallied to win 5-3 over Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont. and improve to a 2-1 record. Sidorova was down 3-1 after five ends, scored two in the sixth to tie it and completed the comeback stealing points in seven and eight. Team Middaugh dropped to a 1-2 record.
On the men’s side, Reid Carruthers (2-1) made an amazing final shot for three points in the last end to lift his Winnipeg team to a 7-6 victory over Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud (0-3).
Watch as Carruthers makes the in-off to take out two counters and score three.
The Masters is the second stop on the seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and runs through to Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.