World champ Homan beats Einarson at Grand Slam of Curling event in Toronto
Players' Championship is final Grand Slam event of the season
Reigning world and Canadian champion Rachel Homan defeated Manitoba's Kerri Einarson 5-3 on Thursday evening at the AMJ Players' Championship in Toronto.
Homan improved her record to 3-1 in Pool A of the Grand Slam Curling event, while Einarson was 2-2 after beating Switzerland's Xenia Schwaller 8-5 on Thursday morning.
South Korea's Eun-jung Kim remained undefeated atop Pool A at 3-0 with a 9-2 victory over Schwaller in the late draw.
Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni and Sweden's Anna Hasselborg topped Pool B at 3-0.
Tirinzoni beat Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa 5-3 this afternoon and Hasselborg edged Japan's Momoha Tabata 6-5 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
In the men's competition, reigning Canadian champ Brad Jacobs defeated Italy's Joel Retornaz 5-4 in the morning draw.
Jacobs, who threw at a game-low 70 per cent, scored a single in the eighth end for the win.
The world bronze medallist is playing with a substitute front end this week of Connor Njegovan at lead and Tyler Tardi at second.
Jacobs later lost 6-1 to Manitoba's Matt Dunstone, falling to 2-2 in the men's standings. Dunstone improved to 2-1.
Brad Gushue dropped a 7-4 decision to Mike McEwen in another all-Canadian matchup. Gushue dropped to 1-3 and MacEwen is 2-1.
Toronto curler John Epping remained 4-0 top lead Pool B with a 5-1 victory over Retornaz in the evening draw.
Scotland's Bruce Mouat — this year's world champion — and Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller were tied at 3-1 atop Pool A.
Play continues through Sunday at the season-ending Grand Slam of Curling event.
