Jones earns final battle with Homan

YORKTON, SASK.— Jennifer Jones knocked off defending champion Eve Muirhead with a 7-2 decision in the semifinals at the Canadian Open on Saturday and will face fellow Canadian Rachel Homan in the championship draw.

Jones and her rink from Winnipeg trailed the Scottish skip 2-1 after three ends but responded with backto-back singles and a deuce in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead. Jones added two more in the seventh to seal the victory.

Homan had very little difficulty earning a berth in Sunday’s championship, disposing of Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 6-0.

The Ottawa foursome opened with a score of two in the first end, added a single in the second and then produced singles in the fourth, fifth and sixth en route to ending the draw after just six ends.

On the men’s side, Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., will go for his second straight Canadian Open crown after defeating Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 5-2 in semifinal action.

Gushue and Carruthers were tied 1-1 until the East Coast skip scored three in the fifth for a 4-1 lead.

Carruthers gained a single back in the sixth, but Gushue scored one in the seventh to put the draw out of reach.

Gushue will face Toronto’s John Epping, who eliminated 2013 champion Kevin Koe 6-5 in the other men’s semi.

Koe and his Calgary rink grabbed a deuce in the seventh for a 5-4 lead, but couldn’t hold on as Epping responded with two of his own in the eighth end for the come-from-behind victory.

Both the men’s and women’s finals are scheduled for Sunday.

The Canadian Open is the third major on the Grand Slam of Curling season.