GANGNEUNG, Korea (WCF) – Sweden’s Anette Norberg edged Denmark’s Angelina Jensen 7-6 in the semifinal of the Mount Titlis World Women’s Curling Championship 2009.
Norberg, the two-time world champion and 2006 Olympic champion, didn’t have to throw her last stone as Danish fourth thrower Madeleine Dupont overcurled her final effort of the 10th end.
“It’s a good day,” said Norberg, who had defeated defending champions Canada earlier in a playoff match.
“I think we played well today. We were very confident in both games, and I think it showed.”
The game proved a minor slugfest as Sweden took two in the second end and stole a deuce in the third for a 4-1 lead.
Denmark, the 2007 world silver medallists, took a deuce of their own in the fourth end and stole the fifth to tie the match.
Sweden then grabbed two in the seventh end, with Denmark tying the score again after a deuce in the eighth.
The start of the final end took the wind out of Denmark’s sails, as Swedish lead Margaretha Sigfridsson made the “tick” shot to clear the front, and Danish misses allowed Norberg to remove any guard threats.
The Swedes face China and skip Bingyu Wang, who are riding an 11 game winning streak heading into Sunday’s world championship final (15:00 Tokyo time).
“Now we must beat China,” said Norberg.
“We lost to them (in the round robin) but we had the game, I just made a lousy draw. We had them.”
“I wasn’t impressed by China playing Denmark yesterday,” Norberg added.
“But for sure they will be tougher tomorrow.”
Denmark, currently mired in a two-game playoff slump after finishing the round robin at 9-2, faces Canada’s Jennifer Jones in Sunday morning’s bronze medal game (10:00 local time).