ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson cruised past Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa and into the semifinals of the KIOTI National.
Einarson scored five points in the second and capped things off with a steal of four in the seventh during a decisive 12-3 rout in Saturday’s quarterfinals at the Mary Brown’s Centre.
Brittany Tran is filling in this week for Team Einarson second Shannon Birchard, who is recovering from a knee injury.
Einarson will take on top-seeded Team Anna Hasselborg. The Swedish squad stayed undefeated with a 7-6 extra-end victory over Team Christina Black of Halifax.
Black, who earned an invitation to the event as the HearingLife Tour Challenge Tier 2 winner, qualified for the playoffs earlier Saturday with a 9-5 win over South Korea’s Team Eun-ji Gim in a morning tiebreaker.
Despite the fatigue, Black took Hasselborg to the distance and scored three tying points in the eighth end to force the extra.
Kioti National on Sportsnet
The Grand Slam of Curling season continues with the Kioti National. Watch live coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ from Thursday through to Sunday's finals.
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The other semifinal sees South Korea’s Team Eun-jung Kim facing Canada’s Team Rachel Homan.
Kim clipped Team Seung-youn Ha 6-3 in a clash between South Korean clubs while Homan escaped with a steal in an extra end to edge Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura 7-6.
Ha upended Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni 9-2 in the tiebreakers.
UP NEXT
Playoff coverage continues with the men’s quarterfinals at 4 p.m. NT / 2:30 p.m. ET (Sportsnet / Sportsnet+).
Canada’s Team Mike McEwen meets Germany’s Team Marc Muskatewitz, Team Brad Gushue and Team Brad Jacobs clash in an all-Canadian matchup, Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte plays Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz and Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat goes up against Team John Shuster of the United States.
The men’s and women’s semifinals are scheduled for 8 p.m. NT / 6:30 p.m. ET (Sportsnet 360 / Sportsnet+). Both finals are on tap Sunday.
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