Canada’s Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing picked up a pair of wins on Monday at the world mixed doubles curling championship in Gangneung, South Korea.
The duo defeated Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Sebastiano Arman 8-4 before dishing Australia’s Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt an 11-6 loss in the evening session.
“Two big wins,” Laing said. “I mean, two teams that were at the top or near the top of the standings and coming in as favourites, so any time you can win both games in a day, it’s been a great day.”
After playing from behind for much of the game, Canada took its first lead over Italy with a deuce in the fifth end. The Italians tied it with a single in the sixth but a pair of deuces from the Canadians in the final two ends allowed them to earn the victory.
Canada had a faster start against Australia, jumping out to a 6-2 lead through five ends. However, Australia finished a four-ender with a draw to tie it up.
Canada responded with five in the seventh and Australia conceded with one end to go.
“We played well this game and just had one bad end but we put together a really good end after,” Jones said. “If you’re going to give up four, taking five [in the next end] is a good way to do it.”
“The good news was that it wasn’t the first time we’ve done that,” added Laing. “We’ve been there before. It sucked, but it was nice to bounce back.”
Jones and Laing are 4-1 and atop Group A alongside Estonia (4-1) and Scotland (4-1). The Canadians will play the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
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