McEwen wins tiebreaker at Masters Grand Slam
LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. — Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen scored five in the fifth end and Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud conceded an 8-2 win in a tiebreaker on Friday at the Masters Grand Slam of curling.
McEwen goes on to face Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in today’s quarter-final.
Jacobs, Kevin Koe and Brad Gushue all won in the 13th draw of the to finish round-robin play with identical 4-0 records.
Jacobs earned a 4-2 win over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock to lock down the No. 1 playoff seed.
Koe, from Calgary, capped off the round robin with a 6-2 win in just five ends over Sweden’s Niklas Edin (3-1).
Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., scored four in the second and took a 6-3 decision over Ulsrud (2-2).
In today’s other quarter-finals, Koe clashes with Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson, Gushue takes on Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz and Edin meets Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers.
CURLING Garcia advances to semis at the WTA Finals
SINGAPORE — Caroline Garcia advanced to the semifinals at the WTA Finals on Friday when top-ranked Simona Halep was beaten by Elina Svitolina.
Garcia defeated Caroline Wozniacki 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the early Red Group match, giving both 2-1 records. Wozniacki had already advanced, but Garcia had to wait. When Svitolina beat Halep 6-3, 6-4 later in the day, the top-ranked Romanian was eliminated and Garcia was through as the group winner.
In the semifinals, Garcia will play Venus Williams and Wozniacki will face Karolina Pliskova.
Garcia, playing at a career-high No. 8 ranking after winning back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing, is the only one of the eight players who didn’t have a chance to end the season with the top ranking.
“It was kind of weird, actually, to be here,” Garcia said. “I qualified last minute, two weeks before. I really wanted to keep improving, play every single match and get experience. “That’s why I think I won these (last) two matches.” Despite not reaching the semifinals, Halep will retain the No. 1 ranking unless Pliskova wins the title, which would make her the year-end No. 1.
“This system (round robin), I don’t like,” Halep said. “You stay like stressed all week. If you lose, of course, you have another chance. I just want it to be if you lose, you go home.”
At Basel, Switzerland, Roger Federer was tested before beating 28th-ranked Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals on Friday.
The top-seeded Swiss saved two break points when trailing 3-2 in the decisive set. Federer clinched his first match point and has been a finalist in his last 10 appearances at his hometown event.
TENNIS