Swiss ace ends Muirhead bid for Canadian final spot

Eve Muirhead’s sensational winning start to 2019 came to an end in yesterday’s Canadian Open semi-finals in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

The Perthshire curler underwent hip surgery last summer and struggled on her return in October, but was back to her best in Canada, thrashing Olympic gold medallist Anna Hasselborg in round one and defending champion Chelsea Carey 10-3 in the quarter-finals after scoring a seven at the first end.

The magic deserted Muirhead in the semis as she and team-mates Lauren Gray, Vicki Chalmers and Jennifer Dodds were beaten 8-4 by Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni.

An early three-stone deficit was cut to just one, but a Swiss three at the fifth end proved to be the killer blow.

In the men’s quarterfinals, Murrayfield’s Bruce Mouat lost 5-4 at the first extra end to Swedish world champion Niklas Edin in a repeat of November’s European final, which the Scot won.