Australia retained top spot in Group A following their last-stone 8-7 win over Denmark in the eighth session of round robin at the OQE2021 on Tuesday morning.
In this session, Hungary beat Turkey by 8-7 while Germany were the other winners in this session as they defeated Spain by 9-5. Russia had the bye this session.
Denmark opened with a score of two in the first end of their game against Australia. They added another two points in the third end and followed that up with a steal of two in the fourth when Australia’s attempted tap-out did not curl, giving Denmark a 6-1 lead at the break.
Australia then called a power play in the fifth end and used it to score three points and bring themselves back into the game, at 4-6 down. Denmark’s Jasmin Lander drew for one point in the sixth end to take a 7-4 lead but in the seventh, Australia drew to score three and tie the game at 7-7.
In a tense eighth end, Australia set themselves up with a stone on the button, with plenty of stones in front. Lander’s final take-out attempt wrecked on a front stone, giving Australia a steal of one to complete a second-half comeback with an 8-7 win that keeps their undefeated record going.
Hungary opened the scoring with two points in the first end of their game against Turkey. In the fourth end Hungary’s Palancsa Dorottya promoted one of her stones to score two and take a 4-2 lead into the break.
Turkey responded with a single score in the fifth end and then Hungary scored four points on their power play for an 8-3 lead. Turkey scored two in the seventh and then in the eighth end, Hungary took out one of three Turkey stones sitting in the house to give Turkey a steal of two and win 8-7. This third win puts Hungary in second place behind unbeaten Australia, who have played one game less.
After this win, Hungary’s Kiss Zsolt said, “It was a bit of a struggle in the beginning – I just couldn’t find good draw weight. We managed to score four in the power play and got a good break. They made very few misses, we just played to keep it clean, and I think we managed that quite well.”
Germany faced Spain in this session and moved into a lead in the third end when Pia-Lisa Schoell drew her last stone to score three points and take a 4-2 lead. Spain’s Oihane Otaegi wrecked her last stone of the fourth end to give Germany a steal of two points and a 6-2 lead at the break. Later, in the sixth end, Germany’s Schoell had another draw, to score three on the way to a 9-5 victory that gives them two wins overall and keeps them in the play-off hunt.
Speaking afterwards, Schoell said, “That was really important for us – we’re still alive. The pressure’s on mentally, but now we have a better feeling on the ice and that’s important.” Her partner Klaudius Harsch added, “We knew we couldn’t drop another one and now we’re 2-2, two more wins now. Today felt a bit easier and it felt way more comfortable.”
Session eight results: Australia 8-7 Denmark; Hungary 8-7 Turkey; Spain 5-9 Germany
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