Jones' Canada hit the ground running

Jones' rink replaced Team Rachel Homan as Canada’s representatives for this season's World Cup finale – the winners of last September's first leg are without skip Homan and second Joanne Courtney, who are both due to give birth this summer.

That opened the door for Jones, who is joined by Kaitlyn Lawes, Shannon Birchard and Jill Officer, three of whom have won Olympic gold medals, and they opened up with a 10-1 win over Japan.

"We'll take it. It was fun with the crowd being very energetic and it was great to see lots of kids out there – it made for a great environment," said Lawes.

"We weren't really sure what to expect here. They [Japan] are a very talented team and we have lost to them a couple of times this year.

"We knew it would be tough and wanted to take it one shot at a time and luckily, we got to take advantage lots of times."

Elsewhere in Group A, hosts China defeated the United States 9-2 while Switzerland are the early leaders in Group B following their 6-4 win over Russia.

South Korea got the better of Sweden, edging them out 5-4.

The women’s competition resumes on Thursday, with Canada taking on China in the morning session.

Sportsbeat 2019