Hosts continue domination at World Women's Curling Championship in Canada

A tussle for the top spot saw Canada beat Denmark 10-5 in the morning's ninth session of round-robin play, putting them back at the top tied with Sweden, who sat the session out.

Canada's day continued well with a last-gasp win over Scotland in the evening session. The Scots led 6-4 after six ends, but the hosts managed three points in the seventh and then stole a final point in the tenth end to seal victory.

"We were up three nothing after three ends so I thought that was good," explained Canadian skip Jennifer Jones.

"Just a couple of shots in the middle got us behind.

"I made a really big shot for three which felt great and we played really well.

"You don't need any extra motivation at a World Championship, that's for sure."

Rivals Sweden, the Olympic champions, continued to assert their dominance as they restored their tournament lead with an 8-6 win against the Czech Republic. Again, it was tight until skip Anna Hasselborg hit out a Czech stone in the eighth end, securing two points for an 8-4 lead.

Though the Czechs retrieved two points in the ninth, they could not overcome the formidable Swedes who then went on to beat Switzerland 5-4 to extend their lead to seven tournament wins.

Meanwhile, PyeongChang silver medallists Korea enjoyed a narrow 8-7 win over Italy and a 12-3 demolition of China to bolster their third-place position.

"In the first end we had a little bit of a situation, so I was a bit worried that we were losing focus," said skip Eun-Jung Kim.

"But in the second end we fixed our focus. After the Olympics we were busy, so we were a little tired.

"When we came here after the second game we felt like we were back in our good condition."

After session 11, fourth place is filled by Russia, who have won four and lost two, including yesterday's 7-4 win against Japan, and the Czech Republic are fifth, with one more loss than Russia and four wins.

Russian skip Victoria Moiseeva was pleased by Russia's resurgence.

"It was important to us to win this game," she said. "Not only to win but to feel the confidence coming back.

"Today, we talked and discussed more than we usually do and that helped us to get the win."

Session ten saw the Czechs lose to Sweden, but they rebounded with a 9-8 victory over Denmark in the 11th session.

Japan and the United States are tying for sixth place, and with six teams qualifying for the play-offs at the end of the round robin stages, there is all to play for.

Sportsbeat 2018