Homan stumbles in Players' Championship opener a day after winning 11th Grand Slam
Scotland's Bruce Mouat downs Canadian Brendan Bottcher for 2nd straight day
A day after winning a record 11th Grand Slam of Curling title, Ontario's Rachel Homan fell to Russia's Alina Kovaleva in the opening draw of the Princess Auto Players' Championship.
Kovaleva's team broke open a 3-3 tie with three points in the fifth end.
Homan's Ottawa-based team was coming off a 6-3 win over Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni on Monday night in the final of the Humpty's Champions Cup.
Kerri Einarson — the Canadian national champion from Gimli, Man. — Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones, Sweden's Anna Hasselborg, South Korea's Minji Kim and Tirinzoni were Day 1 winners on the women's side.
Meanwhile, Scotland's Bruce Mouat got the better of Brendan Bottcher for the second time in two days.
Mouat toppled Bottcher 9-6 — one day after beating the Edmonton-based rink in the final of the Humpty's Champion Cup.
Bottcher scored three in the second end on Tuesday for an early 3-0 lead, but Mouat chipped away and then sealed the victory with a five spot in the eighth end.Meanwhile,
World champion Niklas Edin of Sweden, Calgary's Kevin Koe, Northern Ontario's Brad Jacobs, Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador and Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller started 1-0 in men's play.
Round-robin play continues on Wednesday.
WATCH | Ottawa's Rachel Homan wins 11th career Grand Slam title:
