CHATHAM, Ont. -- Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones is the first skip to earn a spot in the playoffs at the Elite 10.
Jones has a 3-0-0-0 record and nine points after scoring a 3 & 2 victory over Edmonton's Laura Walker in Thursday's evening draw.
Walker dropped to 0-1-0-1 but still has two points from a shootout victory over Winnipeg's Tracy Fleury in the morning draw.
Originally a men's invitational, the Grand Slam of Curling added a women's division to the Elite 10 this season.
Points are scored in match play by either counting two or more rocks (with the hammer) or stealing at least one rock (without the hammer).
Teams earn three points for a regulation win, two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. The top six teams overall, regardless of pools, qualify for the weekend playoffs.
The Elite 10 has three additional unique rules: Stopwatches are banned, tick shots cannot be performed on guards sitting on the centre line until the fifth rock of play, and teams have four minutes of thinking time per end.
Also, Nina Roth of the United States picked up a 3 & 2 victory over Rachel Homan to sit even with the Ottawa skip at 1-0-0-1 and three points apiece.
Olympic gold medallists Anna Hasselborg from Sweden moved to a 2-0-0-0 with six points after defeating Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., 2 & 1. Scheidegger now sits at 1-0-0-1 with three points.
Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland also topped Edmonton's Chelsea Carey 2 & 1 to improve to 1-0-0-1 while Carey dropped to 1-0-0-2, with both having three points.
In the only men's draw Thursday evening, Winnipeg's Team Reid Carruthers improved to 2-0-0-0 with six points by downing Scotland's Ross Paterson 3 & 1. Paterson is now at 1-0-0-1 for three points.
Round-robin play continues on Friday.
