VERNON, B.C. — Be warned, China: Jennifer Jones is ready for a rematch.
Jones nabbed a berth in the 1-versus-2 Page playoff game in style Thursday night, routing Stina Viktorsson of Sweden 7-3 to conclude round-robin play at the Ford world women's curling championship.
The win left Jones tied with China's Bingyu Wang and Switzerland's Mirjam Ott at 9-2. Since each team owned a 1-1 head-to-head record in the round-robin, a pre-tournament draw to the button was used to break the tie.
The three teams with the best draws? China, Canada and Switzerland.
Canada's skip Jennifer Jones reacts after a shot during their game against Denmark at the World Women's Curling Championships in Vernon, B.C., on Thursday. (Andy Clark/Reuters)
The result means the Canadians will play in Friday night's 1-versus-2 playoff game (TSN, 9 p.m. ET), with the winner advancing directly to Sunday's final. The losing team will play in Saturday's semifinal.
Hard-luck Switzerland will play in the 3-versus-4 playoff game against the winner of Friday morning's tiebreaker between Japan's Moe Meguro and Angelina Jensen of Denmark.
The Canada-China showdown means more than a spot in the final to Jones, who is eager to atone for her 10th-end miss that handed the Chinese a 9-7 victory in their round-robin meeting.
"We had a shot to win," said Jones. "I thought it was a really well-played game by both teams.
"I actually thought we kind of controlled the second half of that game, and I kind of screwed up on that one. Hopefully we'll have that shot to win again. That's all we want."
Canada put on a shooting clinic against Sweden, alternating deft draws with big takeouts in front of a lively Greater Vernon Multiplex crowd of 2,667 — by far the largest of the event. The Canadians finished at 87 per cent for the game, their best performance since the opening weekend of the tournament.
"We all made big shots when we had to," said Jones. "Dawn played phenomenal, Jill made some great double peels, Cathy got us out of trouble in the first end and I thought I hung in there, too."
Opening with the hammer for the first time since Draw 8 on Monday, Canada took immediate advantage after Viktorsson's final shot slid through the house. That left Jones with a simple hit for two, and she made it with ease.
Sweden cut the lead in half in the second end on a Viktorsson draw to the four-foot against three Canadian stones. Jones then made a superb shot in the third to preserve a blank, ridding the house of three Swedish rocks with one well-placed stone.
Viktorsson made a pair of key takeouts herself in the fifth — reducing Canada's big end to a single after Jones failed to roll her shooter out of the rings with her final shot.
Canada added to its lead with a steal of one in the sixth, then held Sweden to a single in the seventh. After the Canadians loaded the house with rocks in the eighth, Viktorsson was forced to try and draw between cover, but couldn't.
Jones removed Sweden's shot rock with her final stone for three more points, and Canada cruised from there.
Ott matched the Canadians and Chinese at 9-2 with a 9-4 victory over Liudmila Privivkova of Russia (4-7). Since losing its opener 6-3 to Jones, Ott's foursome has been the hottest in the tournament, finishing the round-robin second overall at 81 per cent.
"I am very confident," said Ott. "The other three girls, they've played very well. We are all on a good roll, so I'm confident."
Wang, whose team has struggled since opening the tournament with seven straight wins, had all she could handle in a 6-5 win over Andrea Schopp of Germany (4-7).
Scotland (3-8) was involved in the strangest moment of the tournament after two of its players refused to join the team for games against Italy and the Czech Republic.
National coach Derek Brown said skip Gail Munro was asked to step down following Scotland's 7-2 loss to Japan on Wednesday night. She agreed, but third Lyndsay Wilson said she wouldn't play unless Munro was skipping.
Munro was then offered Wilson's spot in the lineup, but refused.
Karen Addison, the team's regular second, threw final stones and called the majority of the shots. Lead Anne Laird and alternate Lynn Cameron threw three shots each per end to make up for the lack of a fourth team member.
The Scots fared just fine without Munro and Wilson, escaping with a 5-4 extra-end win over Italy's Diana Gaspari (2-9) before posting an 8-4 win over Katerina Urbanova of the Czech Republic (0-11)
In other Draw 16 action, it was: Sweden 8 Denmark 6; Japan 8 China 7 (extra end); and U.S. 7 Russia 6 (extra end).
In Draw 15, it was: Switzerland 7 U.S. 4; Japan 9 Germany 4; and Italy 6 Czech Republic 3.
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