The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Smith stuns Swiss to book place in final
Eve Muirhead goes into today’s women’s semi-finals on back of another victory
Perth’s Kyle Smith silenced the home crowd with a perfect final delivery as he stunned Swiss skip Peter De Cruz 9-8 in last night’s European Championship semi-finals in St Gallen.
The former world junior champion reached the medal play-offs by beating Dutchman Jaap Van Dorp yesterday morning, but De Cruz was fully expected to progress after beating Smith 9-4 on Wednesday.
It was a different story this time, though, as Smith led 3-0, 5-2 and 7-5 before clinching a famous victory with a two at the 10th end.
He is already guaranteed a silver medal and will now meet Sweden’s defending champion Niklas Edin in tomorrow’s final.
A delighted Kyle Smith said immediately after the match: “It was a strange game and we played a fantastic end in the second for a steal of three. But with a team of that quality capable of making twos they started chipping away at us.
“It was a thoroughly enjoyable game, moments of brilliance and a couple of loose ones in there, too.
“It came down to the last end, we dug deep and did everything we have been practising for. It really was a great team performance,” said Smith.
“We now have the revenge game against Edin from the round robin.
“We have played Edin a lot, it is a team we know a lot about and we know what to expect.
“As defending champions they have a lot of pressure – whereas we have nothing to lose and we want to take that crown.”
Meanwhile, fellow Scot Eve Muirhead faces Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni in today’s women’s semis after dominating yesterday afternoon’s final round-robin fixture.
The 2011 gold medallist outclassed Hungary’s Dorottya Palancsa 9-3 for her seventh win out of nine.
In doing so, she stayed on target for her eighth European medal in a row.
However, she will need to avenge Wednesday’s 9-7 loss to Tirinzoni if she is to keep her hopes of a second title alive.