Amber Holland of Saskatchewan captured her first career Grand Slam of Curling title Saturday with a 6-4 victory over Krista McCarville of Ontario in the women's finals of the Players' Championship in St. John's.

With Holland leading 2-1 after three ends, McCarville took her first lead of the contest in the fourth end. With an opportunity to draw for three points, McCarville came up heavy on her final rock, forcing her to settle for two points.

Skip Amber Holland, pictured in 2001, won this year's Players' Championship tournament.
(Canadian Press)

Tied at 3-3, Holland re-took the lead in the sixth. With Holland lying three well-guarded rocks in the house, McCarville tried a difficult tap on her final shot and knocked out all but one stone, giving up a steal of a one.

Entering the final end knotted at 4-4, Holland pulled off a dramatic double takeout on her final rock to score two and win the game.

"We did not play as well during the first half of the game," said Holland.  "But in ends six, seven and eight, we played really well and our team didn't miss any shots."

As tournament champions, Holland's team won $25,000.

Men's semifinals set

On the men's side, top seed Glenn Howard, reigning world champion Kevin Martin, Kevin Koe and Pat Simmons booked their places in the final four after winning their respective quarter-final matchups Saturday night.

Howard used a four-point first end to beat Greg McAulay while Martin earned a 5-4 decision over Randy Ferbey.

Simmons scored five points in the first four ends en route to a 7- 2 win over Wayne Middaugh. Koe posted a 6-2 victory over Kerry Burtnyk.

Howard will meet Simmons in one semifinal, and Martin will face-off against Koe in the other.

The semifinals (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 8 am ET) and the final (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 12 pm ET) go Sunday.

All of Canada's top-ranked rinks are taking part in the eighth and final leg of this Grand Slam of Curling event.

The field boasts some of the best curling talent in the country and seeds 16 teams in each of the men's and women's events based on their standings in the Canadian Team Ranking System as of March 17.