Scotland's Dodds, Mouat win inaugural Mixed Doubles Super Series curling event in Ottawa
Canada's Walker, Muyres suffer 7-6 extra-end defeat in final
Scotland's Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat beat Canada's Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres 7-6 in an extra end to win the inaugural Mixed Doubles Super Series event on Sunday in Ottawa.
With hammer in the extra end, Dodds found the button with her draw to the four foot and helped the 2021 mixed doubles world champions finish the event undefeated with six wins at the Carleton Place Curling Club.
Dodds and Mouat edged Switzerland's Jenny Perret and Martin Rios 7-6 in the semifinals, which followed a 7-5 quarter-final win over Canada's Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing.
"We are friends… and I think that's a huge thing for us," said Dodds, on CBC Sports' That Curling Show following the final. "We're always wanting to learn and improve — we took a lot of learnings from the Olympics and we've really tried to dial them in here.
"It's good to see it working."
Dodds and Mouat finished fourth for Great Britain at the 2022 Beijing Olympics in February.
WATCH | Dodds, Mouat join That Curling Show following their Super Series win:
Walker and Muyres went unbeaten en route to the final after a 9-5 victory over Estonia's Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill in the semifinals and a 7-5 victory against fellow Canadians Rachel Homan and Tyler Tardi in the quarter-finals.
Walker and Muyres opened the tournament with a 9-0 win over Canada's Sherry Just and Ryan Deis, then earned a 12-1 victory against Canada's Erin Butler and Jordan McNamara. In their final qualifying match, Walker and Muyres defeated Perret and Rios 6-5.
The Canadian duo stepped away from the four-person game earlier this year to focus solely on mixed doubles.
WATCH l That Curling Show: Dodds, Mouat win 1st stop of Mixed Doubles Super Series:
"Laura and Kirk are amazing curlers," said Mouat. "It's nice to see that they've devoted themselves to mixed doubles and they're going to be a tough team to beat for a lot of the European teams."
Walker and Muyres took the lead in the opening end of the final after scoring two and were able to force an extra end with a single in the eighth.
CBC Sports will continue to provide live coverage of the Mixed Doubles Super Series with the next event in Saskatoon from Nov. 3-6, followed by tournaments in Leduc, Alta., Winnipeg and Brantford, Ont.
The Super Series competition in Ottawa was the first of four preliminary tournaments that will feature 32 teams from around the world. The final event in Brantford from Dec. 16-18 will be the Super Series Championship, featuring a 24-team triple-knockout format.
WATCH | Mixed Doubles Super Series Ottawa - Final: