Scotland's women, skipped by world champion Eve Muirhead, took just nine ends to defeat Switzerland 9-3 in their final round-robin game at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships in Stavanger, Norway, yesterday, writes Mike Haggerty.
The Scots top the rankings with a 100% record and now go into the Page 1 v Page 2 game, in which victory would take them directly into the final. Confidence will be high given that they will again be facing Switzerland.
Below these two, three teams are tied in third place: Denmark, who beat the Czech Republic 10-5 in this session, Russia, 11-5 victors over Italy, and Sweden, who beat Germany 7-5. Sweden, with the best draw-shot record of the three, have ranked third and will play the Page 3-4 game against the winner of a tie-breaker between Denmark and the defending champions Russia.
Switzerland, like Scotland undefeated, simply could not cope with the Muirhead rink's performance. The Swiss had last stone in the opening end, but the Scots stole 2. Switzerland responded with a 2 of their own but after that it was all Scotland. Three shots in the third end were followed by a steal of 1 in the fourth and a steal of 2 in the fifth for an 8-2 half-time lead.
Switzerland put their third point on the board in the sixth and then, when Muirhead's last draw in the seventh came beautifully into position to score 1 for a 9-3 lead, the Swiss conceded.
"I'm really pleased," said Muirhead. "It's good to come out and play very, very well. We put a lot of pressure on them and I think the scoreboard shows that".
Looking forward to the Page 1-2 game, she said: "It's going to be a big game. I'm sure they are going to come out fighting."
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