CHARLOTTETOWN — Italy’s Team Stefania Constantini and South Korea’s Team Eun-ji Gim were the first on the women’s side to punch playoff tickets in the HearingLife Tour Challenge.
Constantini defeated Team Tabitha Peterson of the U.S. 7-6 and Gim got by Winnipeg’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes 7-4 during Draw 12 Thursday night at the Bell Aliant Centre.
Constantini and Gim brought their “A” games as both went through the A Event undefeated at 3-0.
The first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season features triple knockout — with A, B and C Event brackets — where teams must win three games before they lose three to advance to the quarterfinals.
Team Lawes and Team Peterson now hold 2-1 records and drop into Friday’s early afternoon B-qualifiers for another chance to move onto the quarterfinals. Lawes will play Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli in an all-Manitoba matchup while Team Peterson takes on Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå.
Tabitha and her sister Tara Peterson are both on maternity leave. Third Corey Thiesse has moved up to skip with Vicky Persinger and Aileen Geving entering the lineup at third and second, respectively.
In the last-chance C Event, Winnipeg’s Team Chelsea Carey got into the win column big time with a 10-1 rout over Team Delaney Strouse of the U.S., and Team Rebecca Morrison of Scotland edged Edmonton’s Team Selena Sturmay 4-3.
Carey and Morrison, both at 1-2, will play for at least another day. Carey clashes with Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa and Morrison meets Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in Friday’s morning draw.
Team Carey is playing short-handed this week as second Emily Zacharias is out due to injury.
UP NEXT
Triple knockout play continues Friday at 8:30 a.m. AT / 7:30 a.m. ET.
Broadcast coverage resumes at Noon AT / 11 a.m. ET on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+.
NOTES
The HearingLife Tour Challenge features 64 of the best men’s and women’s teams from around the world split into two tiers. … Tier 2 winners receive invitations to the WFG Masters in January. … Eight teams in each division qualify for Saturday’s quarterfinals … The semifinals are also scheduled for Saturday with the finals set for Sunday.