Men's quarter-finals set, women's spots still up for grabs at Canadian Open

The men's quarter-finals are set at the Meridian Canadian Open, while three spots are still up for grabs on the women's side.

Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller and Scotland's Bruce Mouat earned the final openings on the men's side on Friday night by advancing through the C-qualifiers.

Howard slid in with an 8-6 victory over Peter de Cruz of Switzerland, Schwaller shocked Calgary's Kevin Koe 7-4 and Mouat topped Regina's Matt Dunstone for the final playoff berths in the triple-knockout tournament.

The Canadian Open — the fourth stop of the Grand Slam of Curling season — uses the triple-knockout format where teams must win three games before they lose three games in order to qualify. Each loss drops teams to a lower bracket until they are eliminated.

Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Brad Gushue of St. John's, N.L., went undefeated to qualify from the A-bracket at 3-0.

Toronto's Team John Epping, Winnipeg's Mike McEwen and American Korey Dropkin advanced through the B-qualifiers at 3-1.

Saturday's quarter-finals are: Jacobs against Howard, Gushue versus Schwaller, Epping against Mouat and McEwen versus Dropkin.

Meanwhile, Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., and American Nina Roth went through the A-qualifiers on the women's side, while Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones, Sweden's Anna Hasselborg and Russia's Alina Kovaleva advanced from the B-bracket.

The women's C-qualifiers take place Saturday before the playoff rounds begin.

It'll be Scotland's Eve Muirhead against South Korea's Min Ji Kim, Calgary's Chelsea Carey versus Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa and Silvana Tirinzoni against Elena Stern in an all-Swiss matchup for the final three spots.

Both the men's and women's finals are on Sunday.