Curling: Sudden death for Bruce Mouat's title hopes

Bruce Mouat's title hopes now rest on a series of sudden-death tie-breakers after the Edinburgh curler suffered his third extra-end defeat at the Scottish Championships in Perth.

Bruce Mouat

Victory over local skip Kyle Smith would have guaranteed the Napier student second place in the round robin standings and would have set up a head-to-head with leading qualifier Tom Brewster, the winner going straight through to tomorrow’s final.

Instead, Smith overcame a 6-3 deficit and became the third player this week – after Brewster and David Murdoch – to beat Mouat at the first extra end. That left Mouat and four other skips – Smith, Murdoch, Grant Hardie and Cameron Bryce – with identical 6-3 winning records, with only three spots available in today’s medal play-offs.

No tie-breakers were required in the ladies’ event as holder Eve Muirhead completed a clean sweep of seven straight victories. Hannah Fleming and Lauren Gray joined her in the play-offs.

Murrayfield sisters Gina and Karina Aitken finished seventh-equal overall with two wins out of seven after Karina signed off yesterday by outplaying Gina 12-4.