Curling: Jones, Jacobs lose in Players Championship

TORONTO –

Jennifer Jones and Brad Jacobs bounced back from tournament-opening losses to win Wednesday's draw at the Grand Slam of Curling.

Winnipeg's Jones, who lost 9-2 to Sweden's Isabella Vrana in Tuesday's tournament-opening draw, scored one in the seventh and stole two in the eighth to defeat Italy's Stefania Constantini 8-5.

Jacobs, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., scored twice in the eighth end to beat Kevin Coe of Calgary 6-5. He was on the wrong end of a rare curling performance on Tuesday, losing 9-0 to Scotland's Bruce Mowat.

The season-ending Players Championship will be the last Grand Slam event for Jones, who has announced that four players will retire from curling.

During his career, Jones won six Canadian titles, two world championships and 17 Grand Slam titles, along with an Olympic gold medal.

In the other game of Draw 4, Switzerland's Ksenia Schwaller (1-1) of Gimli, Man., defeated Kerry Einarson (0-2) 6-4 and Scotland's James Craik (1-1) scored one goal. Yannick Schwaller from Switzerland won 7:6 (1:1).

In the second tie of the day, Mowat improved to 2-0 with an 8-5 win over Brad Gushue of St. John's, NL.

Mowat sealed victory with four in the eighth leg and avenged Gushue, who beat the Scot in the round and semi-finals last week en route to silver at the men's world championships.

Vrana and Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni also improved to 2-0. Vrana defeated Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa (0:2) 8:3, and Tirinzoni beat South Korea's Kim Yunjung 6:4.

Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone improved his record to 1-1 with a 7-4 win over Italy's Joel Returnaz (0-2).

Draws were scheduled for Wednesday afternoon and evening.

This Canadian Press report was first published on April 10, 2024.