Tracy Fleury tops Kerri Einarson to reach quarter-finals at Masters
Canada's Jones avoids elimination with 8-3 win over Japan's Koana in opening draw
Tracy Fleury made an open hit to score four points in an 8-5 victory over Kerri Einarson on Friday afternoon at the Grand Slam of Curling's Masters event.
Fleury's team from East St. Paul, Man., advanced to the quarterfinals with the victory. Einarson of Gimli, Man., fell into the C bracket at the triple-knockout competition.
Edmonton's Kelsey Rocque, American Tabitha Peterson and South Korea's Eunjung Kim also locked up quarterfinal spots with Draw 15 wins.
Rocque beat South Korea's Hyerin Kim 5-3, Kim edged Sweden's Anna Hasselborg 5-4 and Peterson topped Sweden's Isabella Wrana 8-6.
Bottcher defeated Scotland's Ross Whyte 6-4, Jacobs beat Winnipeg's Jason Gunnlaugson 5-4 and Edin downed Calgary's Kevin Koe 6-4.
Japan's Yuta Matsumura outscored Rich Ruohonen 11-8 to eliminate the American from weekend play.
Friday's evening draw saw Matsumura down Jason Gunnlaugson of Morris, Man., 5-2, and Calgary's Kevin Koe top Mike McEwen of Winnipeg. Scotland's Ross Whyte pulled out a 5-4 victory over Switzerland's Peter de Cruz in the final end.
Knockout play continues Saturday morning ahead of the afternoon playoffs.
In Friday's opening draw, Winnipeg native Jennifer Jones avoided elimination with an 8-3 victory over Japan's Tori Koana.
Jones dropped her first two games of the competition to fall into the C bracket. Russia's Alina Kovaleva, meanwhile, eliminated Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa with a 7-4 win.
Switzerland's Peter de Cruz outscored Matt Dunstone's Regina-based team 8-6 and Winnipeg's Mike McEwen held off Toronto's John Epping 3-1. Dunstone and Epping were eliminated with the losses.
