Hat trick: Retornaz claims third straight Grand Slam men’s title at WFG Masters
[ad_1]
SASKATOON — Joël Retornaz and his team from Italy captured their fourth Grand Slam of Curling championship and third consecutive of the season after successfully defending the WFG Masters men’s title.
Retornaz scored a single in the eighth end to edge Ross Whyte’s squad from Scotland 3-2 during Sunday’s final at Merlis Belsher Place.
It was just a little over a year ago when Retornaz, third Amos Mosaner, second Sebastiano Arman and lead Mattia Giovanella claimed their first-ever trophy in the series during this event and opened the season with back-to-back title wins at the HearingLife Tour Challenge in October and last month’s KIOTI National.
Team Retornaz joined Team Kevin Martin (2006-07), Team Brendan Bottcher (2018-19) and Team Brad Jacobs (2019-20) in an exclusive group of clubs who have won three straight Grand Slam men’s titles in a single season.
The world No. 1 Retornaz lost his first game of the tournament Tuesday to Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers but won five straight heading into the final to open with the hammer.
var adServerUrl = “”;
var $el = $( “#video_container-113196” );
var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).data(‘permalink’);
/*
if ( “1” == true && ‘undefined’ !== typeof window.getIndexAds ) {
var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}}}};
adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ‘ so, permalink);
} else {
adServerUrl = ”
}
*/
adServerUrl = ”
var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.includes(“cust_params”);
var queryString=”;
if(adServerUrl_result){
var gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”)
if(gettheDUFI){
queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
}
var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”)
if(DUFI_IP){
queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’;
}
adServerUrl = adServerUrl.replace(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) );
}
$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=\”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js\” %3E%3C/script%3E”) );
$( document ).one( “ready’, function() {
$( “#video_container-113196” ).SNPlayer( {
bc_account_id: “1704050871”,
bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”,
//autoplay: true,
//is_has_autoplay_switch: false,
bc_videos: 6343416445112,
is_has_continuous_play: “false”,
adserverurl: adServerUrl,
section: “”,
thumbnail: ”
direct_url: ”
});
});
var adServerUrl = “”;
var $el = $( “#video_container-863190” );
var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).data(‘permalink’);
/*
if ( “1” == true && ‘undefined’ !== typeof window.getIndexAds ) {
var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}}}};
adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ‘ so, permalink);
} else {
adServerUrl = ”
}
*/
adServerUrl = ”
var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.includes(“cust_params”);
var queryString=”;
if(adServerUrl_result){
var gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”)
if(gettheDUFI){
queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
}
var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”)
if(DUFI_IP){
queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’;
}
adServerUrl = adServerUrl.replace(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) );
}
$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=\”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js\” %3E%3C/script%3E”) );
$( document ).one( “ready’, function() {
$( “#video_container-863190” ).SNPlayer( {
bc_account_id: “1704050871”,
bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”,
//autoplay: false,
//is_has_autoplay_switch: false,
bc_videos: 6343416445112,
is_has_continuous_play: “false”,
adserverurl: adServerUrl,
section: “”,
thumbnail: ”
direct_url: ”
});
});
Neither team blinked during the first three ends and it wasn’t until the fourth when Team Whyte fell into a wee bit of trouble, but their skip made a game-saving come-around draw against three Retornaz stones in the house. Retornaz was able to follow the path though and bumped Whyte’s rock to score a deuce and finally put points on the board.
Whyte held the hammer for the first time in the game during the fifth end. Retornaz got by the guard to hit and lie two and forced Whyte to tap for just a single.
That handed the last-rock advantage back to Retornaz for the sixth end, however, he hit and rolled too far on his last as Whyte stole one to tie it 2-2.
Whyte bailed out his team again in the seventh end with a thunderous triple takeout to clear the house and Retornaz blanked once more to retain the hammer for the final frame.
var adServerUrl = “”;
var $el = $( “#video_container-878812” );
var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).data(‘permalink’);
/*
if ( “1” == true && ‘undefined’ !== typeof window.getIndexAds ) {
var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}}}};
adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ‘ so, permalink);
} else {
adServerUrl = ”
}
*/
adServerUrl = ”
var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.includes(“cust_params”);
var queryString=”;
if(adServerUrl_result){
var gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”)
if(gettheDUFI){
queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
}
var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”)
if(DUFI_IP){
queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’;
}
adServerUrl = adServerUrl.replace(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) );
}
$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=\”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js\” %3E%3C/script%3E”) );
$( document ).one( “ready’, function() {
$( “#video_container-878812” ).SNPlayer( {
bc_account_id: “1704050871”,
bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”,
//autoplay: true,
//is_has_autoplay_switch: false,
bc_videos: 6343415455112,
is_has_continuous_play: “false”,
adserverurl: adServerUrl,
section: “”,
thumbnail: ”
direct_url: ”
});
});
var adServerUrl = “”;
var $el = $( “#video_container-981566” );
var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).data(‘permalink’);
/*
if ( “1” == true && ‘undefined’ !== typeof window.getIndexAds ) {
var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}}}};
adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ‘ so, permalink);
} else {
adServerUrl = ”
}
*/
adServerUrl = ”
var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.includes(“cust_params”);
var queryString=”;
if(adServerUrl_result){
var gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”)
if(gettheDUFI){
queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
}
var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”)
if(DUFI_IP){
queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’;
}
adServerUrl = adServerUrl.replace(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) );
}
$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=\”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js\” %3E%3C/script%3E”) );
$( document ).one( “ready’, function() {
$( “#video_container-981566” ).SNPlayer( {
bc_account_id: “1704050871”,
bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”,
//autoplay: false,
//is_has_autoplay_switch: false,
bc_videos: 6343415455112,
is_has_continuous_play: “false”,
adserverurl: adServerUrl,
section: “”,
thumbnail: ”
direct_url: ”
});
});
Retornaz needed to draw fully into the four-foot circle with the last rock of the game, and his shooter touched the button for good measure.
Whyte, third Robin Brydone, second Duncan McFadzean and lead Euan Kyle were playing in their first-ever Grand Slam final following a marathon Saturday. Whyte won three straight elimination games against Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin in a tiebreaker, Canada’s Team Brad Gushue in the quarterfinals and Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller in the semifinals to reach Championship Sunday.
Earlier, Rachel Homan captured a record-extending 14th Grand Slam women’s title. Homan and her Ottawa-based club doubled up on Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 8-4 in the WFG Masters women’s final.
UP NEXT
The Grand Slam of Curling season resumes in the New Year with the Co-op Canadian Open, Jan. 16-21, at Servus Arena in Red Deer, Alta.
[ad_2]
