After taking down England’s previously unbeaten Sian Honnor on tie-break to top her section of the women’s singles, she won her quarter-final against Ireland’s Shauna O’Neill to guarantee at least a bronze medal at Ocean Grove Bowling Club in Victoria.
Her success sets her up to face Sri Lanka’s Kumari Mangos tomorrow for a spot in the final against one of two Scots – with Julie Forrest taking on defending champion Sophie McGrouther in the other semi.
Merrien took time to get going against Honnor, who got six shots on the board before she could get one and so dominated the first set 9-2.
However, Merrien battled back to edge the second set 7-6, having drawn level with a two on the fourth end and then broken ahead with a three.
That forced a tie-break that Merrien led from the start to win 4-0.
In the first set versus O’Neill, she scored a single on each of the six ends to succeed 6-0.
However, the 2025 British singles champion opened the next set with a three, creating a lead that the Sarnian could not close down and ultimately prevailing 7-5.
In a nervy tie-break, O’Neill opened with a two, but Merrien kept her cool to edge it 3-2.
In doing so Alison exacted revenge on a player who, alongside Adam McKeown, had knocked her and husband Ian out of the mixed pairs at the quarter-final stage.
The Irish duo never fell behind in the first set, which they wrapped up 6-2, and then shocked the Merriens with a fantastic five-shot end en route to taking the second 10-7.
Husband Ian missed out on the men’s singles quarter-finals by just one place.
In his penultimate group match, he took unbeaten leader Carl Wood of Wales to a tie-break, where he finished on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline.
Wood had opened the first set with three singles only for Merrien to gain control and take a 6-3 victory, but a similarly strong start to the second allowed the Welsh bowler to win 7-3 and set up a tie-break in which he was never headed.
The Sarnian then beat Sweden’s Pontus Palmkvist in come-from-behind fashion, but the damage was done.
Palmkvist flew out the blocks to win the first set 9-5, while the two players were difficult to split in the second down to the final end, where Merrien scored a decisive three to make it 7-4.
Merrien dominated the ensuing tie-break 4-0 to bow out with five wins from seven in his section.
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