Scotland, led by skip Eve Muirhead, entered the playoff match fresh from a 9-4 tie-breaker win over China in the morning, after both teams had finished level in the round robin phase with seven victories and four defeats.

But Russia, having finished third in the round robin, had the morning off and began with the last stone advantage in the playoff.

The opening stages of the match proved to be closely contested but by the halfway stage, the Russian team, skipped by Anna Sidorova, had earned themselves a 2-1 lead.

They increased their advantage by stealing a point in the sixth end of the contest and although Scotland immediately gained a point of their own, Sidorova removed two stones in the eighth end to score two points and give her team a 5-2 advantage.

It meant that Scotland would have to claim a big score in one of the remaining two ends but Muirhead, winner of the world title in 2013 in Riga, missed a double take-out attempt, giving the Russians two further points and with the score a 7-2, the Scottish team conceded the match.

Scotland will face the losers of the semi-final in the bronze medal match
©World Curling Federation



"The good thing is that we won and we are one step closer to our main goal - to win the event," Sidorova said after Russia's victory.

"The bad thing is we still have nothing, so we need to win the next match to make sure we are in the medals."

Tomorrow's top page playoff match between reigning champions Switzerland and Sochi 2014 Olympic champions Canada, will see one team advance directly to the final, while the loser gain a second chance to make the final when they face Russia in semi-final later in the day.

The loser of that semi-final will face Scotland in Sunday (March 22) morning's bronze medal match, with the final set to take place in the afternoon.

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