Rachel Homan escapes with win in 1st match of Tour Challenge

Ottawa's Rachel Homan scored a deuce in the eighth end to slip past Edmonton's Kelsey Rocque 7-6 on Tuesday in the first draw of the Tour Challenge.

Homan scored four in the fourth end to take a 5-2 lead in her first match of the Grand Slam of Curling event.

Rocque answered back with three in the fifth and a single in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead. After a scoreless seventh end Homan made her deuce for the win.

In the other women's match of the day, Sayaka Yoshimura and Satsuki Fujisawa, both from Japan, played to a 5-5 draw.

On the men's side, John Shuster of the United States downed Scotland's Bruce Mouat 7-5 and Brad Gushue of St. John's N.L. topped Scott McDonald of Kingston, Ont. 6-4.