CALGARY — With a shot at defending her title on the line, Ottawa's Rachel Homan clawed back from a 5-0 deficit en route to a 9-6 win over Scotland’s Eve Muirhead on Saturday to punch her ticket to the Champions Cup final.
Homan, who defeated Sweden's Anna Hasselborg in last year's final, will take on Winnipeg's Kerri Einarson at WinSport Arena.
The team from Ottawa mounted its comeback in the third end, scoring three in frame and completing steals of one in the fourth and two in the fifth to jump ahead. Muirhead tied it up with a single in the sixth, but Homan took over putting up three points in the final two ends.
Einarson advanced to the final with a 6-4 win over Jennifer Jones' rink from Winnipeg in the other semifinal.
In the men's playoff draw, Brad Gushue's rink from St. John’s, N.L., which was undefeated in the preliminary round, will face Glenn Howard of Tiny, Ont., in the final.
Gushue has won all of the Grand Slam of Curling events except for the Champions Cup.
He advanced to the final with a 7-5 victory over Calgary's Kevin Koe, who was the runner-up at the 2017 tournament.
Howard, who cracks his first Grand Slam of Curling final in more than four years, downed Scotland's Bruce Mouat 9-5 in the other semifinal.
The finals are slated for Sunday. The Champions Cup is the final Grand Slam event of the season.
The Canadian Press
