Defending champion Dunstone tops Schwaller, advances to face Mouat in Masters curling final

Canada’s Matt Dunstone is one win away from his second straight Masters title.

The Winnipeg skip scored two in the seventh end and stole one in the eighth to beat top-ranked Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland 5-3 in the Grand Slam of Curling semifinal on Saturday at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat, Alta.

Dunstone, undefeated at 6-0 this week, will face Scotland’s Bruce Mouat in Sunday’s final. It’s a rematch of last season’s Tour Challenge and GSOC Tahoe finals, both won by Mouat.

Schwaller stole one in the first end and lay two after his final stone in the second, but Dunstone hit for a single to tie it. Schwaller elected to blank the third end and tapped for one in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead.

Dunstone made a draw to the button for one in the fifth, but Schwaller answered with a single in the sixth for a 3-2 lead.

The turning point came when Dunstone’s final stone of the seventh end knocked out Schwaller’s lone rock to score the game’s first deuce for a 4-3 lead. Schwaller’s last stone in the eighth, a hard hit on one of his own, couldn’t move it past Dunstone’s shot rock, giving Dunstone the steal.

The victory avenged Dunstone’s loss to Schwaller in the quarterfinals of last month’s Grand Slam of Curling opener in Victoria, which Schwaller went on to win.

CBC Sports Primetime: Grand Slam of Curling - Semifinal - Medicine Hat

"Excited to get another one with Bruce," Dunstone told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux. "I think we played him in two last year and he beat us both times, so I mean maybe this is a bit of a revenge tour between Yannick and hopefully Bruce tomorrow."

Mouat reached the final with a 7-3 win over Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli, with the teams shaking hands after six ends.

Dunstone went 4-0 in round-robin play before