Canada's Einarson secures win in Pan Continental Curling Championships opener

Canada's Kerri Einarson opened the Pan Continental Curling Championships on Sunday with a 9-2 rout of Cynthia Lu's Chinese Taipei team at the Kelowna Curling Club in B.C.

The event serves as a world championship qualifier for countries outside Europe.

Einarson, from Camp Morton, Man., stole a pair in the fourth end and added a steal of three more points in the fifth to pull away.

Lu made a single in the sixth end and the teams shook hands after Einarson made a raise takeout for a deuce in the seventh.

It's a big win for Canada's Team <a href="https://twitter.com/KEinarson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KEinarson</a> to open the 2023 Pan Continental Championships in Kelowna! Here's our report on the win: <a href="https://t.co/XcDX5dHEkZ">https://t.co/XcDX5dHEkZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/iNgKjl3K7s">pic.twitter.com/iNgKjl3K7s</a>

In other early results, South Korea's Eunji Gim beat Mexico's Team Adriana Camarena 10-1, Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa beat New Zealand's Jessica Smith 9-4 and American Tabitha Peterson topped Australia's Jennifer Westhagen 10-4.

Canada will play Japan in the evening draw.

In men's play, Brad Gushue of St. John's, N.L., will open his round-robin schedule against South Korea's Jongduk Park on Sunday afternoon.

Gushue, the defending champion, needs a top-five finish to book Canada's spot in the March 30-April 7 world playdowns in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Einarson settled for a third-place finish at the inaugural edition of the Pan Continental championship last year.

As host, Canada has an automatic entry at the March 16-24 world women's championship in Sydney, N.S.