Defending champion Wrana receives a bye to the semi-finals of the Princess Auto Players Championship
TORONTO – Isabella Wranå and her Swedish team will continue to defend their title in the final four at the Princess Auto Drivers' Championship.
Wranå booked direct passage to the semi-finals with a 5-4 win over Team Italy's Stefania Constantini in the 14th draw on Friday.
Wranå finished pool play 4-1, identical to their round robin record here last season, while Constantini had a completely opposite record and were eliminated from the round with a score of 1-4.
“It feels great,” Wranå said. “It was fantastic to be able to get that semi-final spot and we can't wait to play more tomorrow.”
Memories of winning the first Grand Slam of Curling title of her career last year at the Mattamy Sports Center are starting to come back to Wranå.
“We love playing in Toronto,” Wranå said. “It feels really great and great to be in the playoffs here again.”
Wranå also said it was great to have the support of the crowd because the Swedish flag was in the stands.
“We had people from Sweden flying in from here to cheer for us, but we also had friends in Canada who came to watch us,” Wranå said. “Sometimes it's nice to get a home crowd because we don't usually get that here.”
Wranå took a 3-0 lead with a takedown in the second period and a steal in the third. After Constantini was limited to one point in the fourth, Wranå scored another run in the fifth and stole one in the sixth for a 5-1 advantage.
However, Constantini won by two points in the seventh, which gave Wranå a hammer home and she was able to give up a point to hold on for the win.
“It feels really good,” Wranå said. “We played well the whole match. We felt confident and it was fun to play today.”
Wranå, whose only loss came against Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa, will retain the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. Homan holds the top spot after finishing the previous round-robin match undefeated 5-0.
Elsewhere in Draw 14, Kerri Einarson and her team from Gimli, Man., are still in disarray after a 7-6 overtime victory over Team Eun-Jung Kim of South Korea.
Einarson (2-3) has a chance to compete in a tiebreaker for the final playoff spot while awaiting the results of the evening's final round-robin draw.
Kim made it to the playoffs with a 3-2 record.
In the men's division, Team Bruce Mouat (4-1) of Scotland qualified for the men's playoffs after scoring three runs in the eighth inning for a 5-4 win over Team Kevin Koe (1-4) of Calgary .
Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone (2-3) doubled their lead with a 6-3 win over Scotland's James Craik (1-4).
NEXT
The round robin ends with a 15th Draw at 7pm ET / 4pm PT on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+.
NOTE
The Princess Auto Drivers' Championship is the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 12 top men's and 12 women's teams from around the world. … Both groups were divided into two groups of six for round-robin competition. The six teams with the best records will advance to the knockout round with the top two teams progressing to the semi-finals. If necessary, the tiebreaker round will take place on Saturday morning to determine the final playoff spot. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday and the final is Sunday.
