Ireland continue unbeaten start

Skip John Wilson's side had to do it the hard way, however, coming from behind after losing the first end to nevertheless go on and hammer home their ever-growing advantage.

Elsewhere in Group D during the third day's morning sessions, hosts Scotland continued their unbeaten start to keep up with Ireland's fast pace with a close-fought 5-3 win over Turkey, while Slovenia easily overcame Luxembourg in a dominant 11-2 victory.

And with a crucial week ahead and their maiden win of the championship now under their belt, Slovenia skip Tomas Tisler is hoping his team can take some much-needed confidence from their ruthless performance.

"It feels great to get that first win, especially because we had a tough loss yesterday against Turkey," he said.

"We were controlling that game and then we lost it, so it feels good to come back.

"We just have to keep playing like we did today, and even yesterday, but just make one or two more shots and we'll get more wins."

Group D also saw Italy ease past Chinese Taipei 10-2 in the second session of the day, leaving them second behind Ireland and Scotland with two wins so far.

The two morning sessions also featured a range of Group C action, with Hungary continuing their unbeaten start with a 9-3 win over Sweden and Kazakhstan getting over the line in a tightly-contested 7-6 victory over Australia.

And the United States' march up the group also showed no signs of stopping, as Hunter Clawson's team breezed past a deflated Latvia side 7-3 for their second win in a row on the Scottish ice.

"There was a lot of pressure both ways, the second end where we stole two, up until skip stones it was looking like it could have been two or three for them," Clawson said.

"We just tried to put rocks in the rings to setup ends, playing for the points and kept making them play tough shots."

Russia were another team to extend their undefeated start as they beat a hapless Korea side 10-2 to move top of Group E ahead of both Finland as well as their day three opponents.

And England succumbed to an 8-3 defeat to a resurgent Finland – who now have three wins – while Switzerland eased past a winless France 6-2.

Elsewhere in the group, Austria triumphed in a close-run encounter against Belgium, a result that gave them their first win of the competition and injected some additional life into Group E.

The game was level at 4-4 going into the final end, before Austria used their last stone advantage to bring some long-awaited joy to skip Andreas Unterberger.

"It's good for the motivation to get that first win," he said.

"We have games in front of us so we'll see if we can get more. It was tight in that last end, so either of us could have won."

Sportsbeat 2019