Defending champion Rachel Homan of Canada clinched a playoff spot at the Pan Continental Curling Championships with a 9-1 win over Australia’s Helen Williams on the final day of competition Friday in Virginia, Minn.
The reigning two-time Canadian and world champion will play in Saturday’s semifinals. The medal games are set for Sunday.
Homan’s Ottawa-based squad improved to 4-2 when they broke open the game against Australia with five points in the fifth end.
In other Friday afternoon women’s games, China improved to 8-0 and clinched first place in the round robin with a 7-6 extra-end win over the United States, Japan beat New Zealand 7-2, and South Korea was a 12-2 winner over Mexico.
The 5-1 Americans, who are also playoff-bound, faced Canada later Friday in the final round-robin draw. Canada would finish second in the round robin and have last-rock advantage in the semifinal with a win over the U.S. and a South Korean win over Japan.
Later Friday, Canada’s Brad Jacobs (7-0) defeated John Shuster of the United States (6-1) 6-5 in extra ends to clinch first place in the round robin and last-rock advantage for the men’s playoffs.
Canada will play fourth-place Team Xiaoming Xu of China (4-3) in one Saturday semifinal, while the U.S. will take on third-place Team Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi of Japan (5-2).
The winners move on to Sunday’s gold-medal game, while the losers will battle for bronze on Sunday.
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