LIVERPOOL, N.S. — Canada's Tyler Tardi clinched a semifinal spot with a 9-5 victory over Sweden's Daniel Berggren on Thursday at the world junior curling championships.
With its fourth win in a row, the B.C. rink of Tardi, third Sterling Middleton, second Matthew Hall and lead Alex Horvath improved to 6-2. Canada is alone in second place heading into the final preliminary-round draw on Friday.
Sweden dropped to 2-6.
Tardi put up deuces in the first and third ends and then scored three in the fifth to go up 7-2.
Sweden did bounce back with three consecutive one-point ends, but Canada scored another two in the ninth to put it away.
Scotland's Ross Whyte leads the 10-team event at 8-0.
Norway, Switzerland, the United States (all 5-3) and New Zealand (4-4) will battle for the last two semifinal spots.
On the women's side, Canada's Selena Sturmay beat Norway's Maia Ramsfjell 8-2 in the morning draw before falling 8-7 in an extra end against China's Yu Han in the evening.
Sturmay, third Abby Marks, second Kate Goodhelpsen and lead Paige Papley dropped to 5-3 and are tied with Korea for fourth in the standings. China improved to 7-1 and atop the standings with its win over Canada.
The Edmonton-based rink faces Russia (6-2) in Friday's afternoon draw.
The top four men's and women's teams advance to the semifinals on Friday night. The finals are Saturday.
The Canadian Press
