Republished April 13, 2019 - 8:53 PM
Original Publication Date April 13, 2019 - 11:51 AM
TORONTO - Calgary's Kevin Koe advanced to the Players' Championship final with a 9-8 extra-end win Saturday night over Peter de Cruz of Switzerland.
The win also gave Koe his first Pinty's Cup as the overall season points champions in the Grand Slam of Curling and a $75,000 bonus.
Edmonton's Brendan Bottcher will meet Koe in Sunday's final, in a rematch of the Brier gold-medal game.
Bottcher beat Scotland's Ross Paterson 7-4 to reach his third Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling final of the season. Bottcher finished runner-up at the Tour Challenge Tier 1 in November and captured his first title in the series at the Meridian Canadian Open in January.
Meanwhile, Sweden's Anna Hasselborg made it seven straight wins in the Players' Championship to reach the women's final. The undefeated reigning Olympic gold medallists edged Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., 5-4.
It's the third Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling final this season for Hasselborg, who kicked off the 2018-19 campaign capturing her first two titles in the series back-to-back at the Princess Auto Elite 10 and Canadian Beef Masters.
Hasselborg takes on Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., who downed Robyn Silvernagle from North Battleford, Sask., 7-4.
Ottawa's Rachel Homan clinched the Pinty's Cup women's title earlier in the week.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2019