Jacobs, Epping to meet in Canadian Open men’s final

YORKTON, Sask. — Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Toronto’s John Epping will face off in Sunday’s final at the Grand Slam of Curling’s Canadian Open.

Jacobs booked his place in the championship game by defeating Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 6-3. Epping followed that up with 7-4 victory against Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L. in the men’s other semifinal.

Jacobs will be searching for his third straight Grand Slam of Curling title — having won the Tractor Tour Challenge and National tournament to close out 2019.

Meanwhile, the women’s final will see Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg go up against South Korea’s Min Ji Kim.

Hasselborg doubled up Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 10-5 in the first semifinal to secure her place in Sunday’s championship match. Kim defeated Russia’s Alina Kovaleva 7-1 to join her.

Similar to Jacobs, Hasselborg will also be looking to earn her third Grand Slam of Curling title in a row on Sunday. 

All four semifinal matches on Saturday were also part of a busy day that began with the quarter-finals.

Earlier in the day, Jacobs downed Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., 8-4 to advance to the semis. He got off to a hot start with a single in the first and four in the second end to build a 5-0 lead. The pair shook hands after seven ends.

McEwen defeated American Korey Dropkin 6-2 in his quarterfinal.

Gushue advanced by downing Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland 6-1, while Epping booked his semifinal spot with an 8-3 victory over Scotland’s Bruce Mouat.

On the women’s side, Kovaleva reached the semis for the first time at the Canadian Open by defeating Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones 9-7.

Meanwhile, in the other three quarter-finals, Hasselborg dropped Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 7-3, Fujisawa held off American Nina Roth 6-5, and Kim from South Korea upset the top-seed Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul, Man., 5-4 in an extra end.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2020.

The Canadian Press