Russia's Victoria Moiseeva and her partner Petr Dron are through to the quarter-finals of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship ©WCF

Hosts Russia booked their place in the quarter-finals of the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship after beating Switzerland in Group A at the Ice Cube in Sochi. 

The pairing of Petr Dron, winner of the Championship in 2010, and Victoria Moiseeva recorded their seventh victory in as many matches by overcoming the defending champions 7-4.

“It was a tough game, a very interesting one,” said Moiseeva.

“We’re really happy to have won it.”

The United States finished the day in second position after their 8-4 win against Australia, followed by third-placed Denmark, who won 11-2 against Japan.

Elsewhere in the group, the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 9-5, while France claimed an 8-7 victory against Turkey.

The US, Denmark, Japan, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Turkey are all still in with a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals ahead of tomorrow’s concluding round-robin sessions.

Canada beat Romania and Belarus to seal a quarter-final berth
Canada beat Romania and Belarus to seal a quarter-final berth © WCF

Meanwhile in Group C, Canada advanced to the quarter-finals after beating Romania 8-3, thanks to three-point scores in both the opening end and third end, and Belarus 8-1.

"It was one of our better games I think,” said Canada’s Charley Thomas, who partners Kaylnn Park.

“We got our rocks in really good positions, I think that was the difference.

“We are perfectly balanced with our two wins today."

Despite losing 7-3 to Spain in the morning session, Estonia scored two points in the final end of their match against Hungary to secure a 6-5 win and move into joint-second position with their opponents in the standings.

Hungary preceded their defeat with a 10-3 win against fellow quarter-final hopefuls South Korea, while the two other games in the morning session saw Scotland beat Belarus 8-3, and England defeat Poland 7-3.

South Korea and Spain finished the day in joint-fourth position following afternoon defeats to England 7-4, and Scotland 9-3 respectively, while the only other game of the session saw Poland beat Romania 11-3.

Norway remain unbeaten in Group B
Norway remain unbeaten in Group B ©WCF

As for Group B, Norway kept their unbeaten record intact with their seventh win of the Championship, 7-4 against China.

Finland defeated Brazil 10-1, and now share second spot with both Italy, who needed an extra end to score one point and beat Austria 6-5 and Sweden, who took one point in the eighth end to overcome Latvia 7-6.

In the only other game of the session, New Zealand picked up their second win of the Championship courtesy of a 10-5 success against Slovenia.


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