World champion Mouat beats Dropkin in early draw at season-ending Grand Slam event

TORONTO - Top-ranked Bruce Mouat of Scotland remains undefeated at the AMJ Players' Championship after winning a pair of matchups on Wednesday. 

Mouat, who won a world championship last weekend in Moose Jaw, Sask., beat American Korey Dropkin 5-1 in morning action after scoring a deuce in the seventh end. He followed up with a 7-5 win over Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland in the late draw and improved to 3-0 in preliminary play. 

Wednesday morning's action also saw John Epping top Mike McEwen 7-5 in an all-Canadian battle and Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura upset Canada's Rachel Homan 8-4. Momoha Tabata beat Satsuki Fujisawa 7-5 in a matchup of Japanese teams. 

Schwaller opened the day with a 5-3 victory over Germany's Marc Muskatewitz, and the second Canadian clash of the day saw Brad Jacobs edge Brad Gushue 5-4. On the women's side, Isabella Wrana of Sweden handed Switzerland's Xenia Schwaller an 8-3 loss and Anna Hasselborg, also from Sweden, downed South Korea's Seung-youn Ha 6-3. 

Eun-jung Kim of South Korea stunned Canada's Kerri Einarson 5-2 in afternoon play, where the Swiss rink of Silvana Tirinzoni topped South Korea's Eun-ji Gim 6-3. A tight matchup ended with Switzerland's Marco Hoseli eking out a 6-5 victory over Scotland's Ross Whyte, while Canada's Matt Dunstone thumped Italy's Joel Retornaz 7-2.

The final draw of the day saw Homan rally for a decisive 8-1 win over Wrana and Ha take a 7-5 victory over Tabata. Yet another Canadian clash saw Epping down Gushue 8-5.

Play continues through Sunday. 

The competition is the fifth and final stop on the Grand Slam of Curling circuit.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2025.