Constantini picks up second upset at Grand Slam opener with win over Homan

CHARLOTTETOWN — Kaitlyn Lawes downed four-time women's world curling champion Silvana Tirinzoni 4-3 at the HearingLife Tour Challenge on Wednesday.

Winnipeg's Lawes drew for two points in the eighth end to edge Italy's Tirinzoni and improve to 2-0 in curling's first Grand Slam of the season.

Lawes will play South Korea’s Team Eun-ji Gim on Thursday for a spot in the quarterfinals in Charlottetown. Tirinzoni (1-1) dropped to the tournament's B bracket.

Calgary's Chelsea Carey fell 7-4 to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg, Tabitha Peterson's team from the United States defeated Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 8-5 and South Korea’s Team Eun-jung Kim beat Scotland’s Rebecca Morrison 5-3 in Wednesday evening's draw.

Earlier Wednesday, Italy's Stefania Constantini scored another big upset in Charlottetown with a 6-4 win over reigning Canadian and world women's champion Rachel Homan.

Constantini scored two in the fifth end for a 3-2 lead, followed by a steal of one in the sixth and another two in the seventh.

Homan needed four in the eighth and final end to draw even and fell short with a deuce.

It was a rare loss for Homan, whose Ottawa-based foursome was coming off a $50,000 win Sunday at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary.

Homan drops to the B bracket in the triple-elimination event to take on Fujisawa on Thursday.

Constantini's win followed a 6-4 victory over four-time Canadian champion Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., on Tuesday.

Einarson rebounded with a 7-4 win over Delaney Strouse of the U.S. on Wednesday. Einarson takes on Hasselborg on Thursday.

Carey, who played a three-woman team because of an injury to second Emily Zacharias, and Morrison dropped to the last-chance bracket.

Peterson's revamped team, skipped by third Cory Thiesse because Tabitha and sister Tara are on maternity leave, improved to 2-0. Kim and Hasselborg were 1-1.

In men's games, Brad Gushue of St. John's, N.L., and Niklas Edin renewed their longtime rivalry, with the Swede coming out on top 7-5.

The game was interrupted in the third end when condensation from the Bell Aliant Centre's ceiling began to drip onto the ice.

Gushue and Edin have met in four world men's championship finals. Edin has won three, including this year's in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Edin (2-0) meets Scotland's Bruce Mouat on Thursday with a playoff berth on the line.

Gushue (1-1) dropped to the B bracket to face Kevin Koe, who is playing a three-man team after dropping second Jacques Gauthier before the PointsBet Invitational.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.