NISKU, Alta. — Italy’s Joël Retornaz clinched a spot in the Co-op Canadian Open playoffs after beating Scotland’s Ross Whyte 7-3 in Friday night’s round-robin final.

Retornaz (3-1) was assured of at least one more match before entering the draw. The win secured them a place in Saturday’s quarter-finals, while a defeat would have meant a detour through the tiebreakers.

Whyte had already qualified and finished the round robin with an identical 3-1 record.

It was a back-and-forth battle with putbacks and double takeouts galore as both teams fired off worthy shots to keep the game close.

While Retornaz started with the hammer and maintained some control throughout the first half, Whyte took a 3-2 lead in the fifth with a base hit to score two runs.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Retornaz saw the house divided in the seventh and regained the lead with an open hit for two.

Whyte could have equalized in the eighth end; however, he should then steal the victory in the extra round. The other option was a Hail Mary pinball shot hitting a rock, redirecting to another rock, and knocking out another rock from Retornaz to get his two winning points.

Whyte went for it, but his shooter didn’t hit them all. In fact, he didn’t hit any of them as he came through the house, and Retornaz put three stolen runs on the board.

Meanwhile, Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland, stole two points in the eighth end to escape with a 7-5 victory over Team Michael Brunner of Switzerland to move to a clean sheet. 4-0 spot in the playoffs. Brunner finished with the reverse record of 0-4.

Sweden’s Niklas Edin (3-1) overtook Calgary’s Kevin Koe 8-4 to advance to the playoffs.

Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers team ended things on a high note with a 6-5 extra end win over Scotland’s James Craik team.

Koe, Carruthers and Craik all missed the playoffs with a 1-3 record.

Also participating in the men’s playoffs are Scotland’s Bruce Mouat (4-0), Calgary’s Brad Jacobs (3-1) and Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller (3-1).

Mouat meets the tiebreaker winner, Jacobs faces Schwaller, Gushue gets Edin and Retornaz and Whyte go for one more in a quarterfinal rematch.

Ottawa’s Rachel Homan Team (4-0), Stefania Constantini of Italy (3-1), Eun-jung Kim of South Korea (3-1), Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan (3 -1) and the South Korean team Seung-Youn Ha. (3-1) are qualified for the women’s playoffs.

Fujisawa versus Ha is the only quarterfinal match as Homan, Constantini and Kim await the tiebreaker winners.

FOLLOWING

Four deciding matches are scheduled for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. MT.

Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone takes on Saskatoon’s Mike McEwen in the men’s division.

Three decisive matches are on the program for the women’s side: Team Selena Sturmay from Edmonton faces Team Kerri Einarson from Gimli, Manitoba, Team Chelsea Carey faces Team Kaitlyn Lawes in an all-Winnipeg clash and the Swiss team Silvana Tirinzoni faces Team Sayaka from Japan. Yoshimura.

Coverage on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+ resumes with the women’s quarterfinals at 2 p.m. ET/noon MT.

The men’s quarterfinals (6 p.m. ET/4 p.m. MT) and both semifinals (10 p.m. ET/8 p.m. MT) are also scheduled for Saturday.