Team Tirinzoni were rewarded for their persistence when they won the Glynhill Ladies International at the ninth time of asking at Braehead Curling.

The Swiss quartet, skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni were aided in the final by their Swedish rivals having to play with only three players after Maria Wennerstrom, who normally plays the final stones for Team Sigfridsson, the Swedes who were silver medallists at the last Winter Olympics, was unable to take the ice due to ill health.

However as ever presents at the tournament which was first contested in 2008, they were worthy champions having beaten Russia’s recently crowned European champions Team Sidorova, who were also the defending champions in this event, in the semi-finals.

“We are thrilled to win the title at last,” said Tirinzoni, whose team had also won all five of their qualifying matches.

“We have been here every year and never been further than the quarter-finals before, but this is my favourite tournament which is why we keep coming back.”

It was one which lived up to its billing as a top class international event with the most experienced international rinks coming through their pools to contest finals day.

The decisive match was a cagey affair in the early stages with the teams exchanging pairs at the first two ends.

However with the Swedes short-handed as well as playing their third match of the day, attrition took its toll when Christina Bertrup, who had taken on the job of throwing the last stones, missed her last stone take-out in the fifth, allowing Tirinzoni to draw for a three shot.

That piled on the pressure and with the Swiss rinks lying four in the next end Bertrup was forced to draw to the four foot to at least limit the damage, only for here attempt to slide to the back of the house, costing her team a second consecutive three.

The overall high quality of the competition rewarded the organisers who have worked hard to build its stature in recent years after a period in which some of the world’s top rinks had been turned off the event because of concern about the conditions.

“Margarertha (Sigfridsson), made no secret of the fact that she decided not to come before because she didn’t think the ice was good enough,” admitted Alan Sloan, the tournament chairman.

“However she wanted to play this time because she had heard about the improvements that have been made and some of the coaches even told us this week that the ice was better than it had been in Berne last weekend.

“That is extremely satisfying and it is telling that it was the proven teams that came through to the quarter and semi-finals.”

Clearly the key element in raising the profile of the competition is word of mouth among the players and Sloan said the evidence of that had come in the entries for a competition that can accommodate a total of 24 teams in its current format.

“This is the first time we’ve been over-subscribed so we know we’re doing the right things,” he observed, noting that teams from 11 countries had been drawn to challenge for the £9000 prize pot.

If there was a disappointing element it was, in the absence of Eve Muirhead’s world class rink in Las Vegas, who were representing the Rest of the World against North America in curling’s answer to golf’s Ryder and Solheim Cups, the performance of the domestic contingent who were aiming to keep the trophy in Scotland for the first time since Gail Munro’s rink won the inaugural event.

However Sloan felt there had even been encouragement in that regard in the performance of two of the youngest teams taking part in the event.

“One of the great things about staging this event is that we are able to give up-and-coming Scottish teams the chance to get a taste of competing with some of the best players in the world,” he said.

“Sophie Jackson’s rink, who are 17 and 18-year-olds won a junior tournament here at Braehead earlier in the season, played extremely well to finish third in their section and Katie Murray’s rink, who are similar ages and are also on the ‘potential programme’ had the same record in their section as Team Sidorova so only missed out on a quarter-final place by the narrowest of margins.”

The tie-break system could not have been more cruel to Team Murray since they had finished with an identical record of three wins and two defeats to both Team Sidorova and another of the Swedish rinks Team Lundman. However with the head-to-head records cancelling one another out, missed out on both second spot which brought a place in the quarter-finals and on third place and a chance to contest the Consolation Cup, only as a result of the draw shot challenge.