TORONTO — The rematch is set for the Princess Auto Players’ Championship women’s final as defending champs Team Isabella Wranå of Sweden will meet Team Silvana Tirinzoni once again on Sunday.
Wranå defeated South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim 6-5 while Tirinzoni topped Canada’s Team Rachel Homan 5-3 during Saturday’s soldout semifinals at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
It was almost exactly one year ago when Wranå captured her first career Grand Slam of Curling title with a narrow 6-5 victory over Tirinzoni, and she’ll need deja vu in order to secure her second.
Another unreal Homan shot, this time redirecting off one Tirinzoni and into the house to eliminate another, had her sitting three counters in the house and forced Pätz to draw for the equalizing single.
That handed Homan the hammer for the final frame and even though Pätz rolled a little deep to the back of the four-foot circle on her last, Team Tirinzoni still sat first and second shot rock. Homan had to draw around a wall of granite but couldn’t get her shooter close enough to count.
Pätz said it feels amazing to reach another Princess Auto Players’ Championship final.
“It was a tough game and it’s always a battle against Rachel,” she said. “It was about time for us to beat her, to be honest. We always have close games and it could have been on both sides this game. Both teams made amazing shots and at the end, it was a tough draw she had to play and we’re lucky we pulled out the win.”
She believes it will take a similar strong effort in order to upend Wranå and avoid a repeat of last year.
“We have to bring our ‘A’ game if we want to beat them,” Pätz said. “We saw it last year, they’re amazing, so we’ll just try to stay focused, try to play the same level that we did today then we have a good chance to have a good game.”
The women’s final kicks off Championship Sunday at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).
The men’s final between Canada’s Team Brad Gushue and Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz follows at 2:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).