Scotland and Sweden move to brink of World Mixed Curling Championships quarter-finals

Scotland have won six matches in a row to top Group D ©WCF

Scotland and Sweden stand on the brink of the quarter-finals at the World Mixed Curling Championships after stretching their winning streak to six to remain the dominant teams in their respective groups in Bern.

With both Scotland and Hungary heading into their Group D clash with unbeaten records their clash looked likely to decide who would emerge as the winners of the group, and although the encounter was expected to be close, it proved to be anything but.

Despite the Hungarians taking a 2-0 lead in the first end, Scotland took complete control of the contest by scoring four points in the second end and then racked up three points in both the third and fourth ends to take a convincing 10-2 lead.

After the next two ends saw the two teams pick up one point apiece the Hungarian team conceded, with Scotland emerging as 13-3 winners after just six ends.

“We’re playing well, Hungary are a good team, but we brought our A-game when it mattered,” said Cameron Bryce, the Scottish skip afterwards.

“Our scores in the second and the fourth ends really benefitted us.”

Scotland’s unbeaten record will now be put to the test by the United States on Thursday as they beat Belarus 8-3 to move joint second in the group, alongside Hungary, having recorded five wins and one defeat so far.

Switzerland and Russia will face each other to decide the Group C winners tomorrow ©WCF

Meanwhile, Sweden remain unbeaten in Group A having beaten Denmark 6-4 to post their sixth straight win of the competition and barring a disastrous turn of form they will surely take the quarter-final berth available for the group winners.

The chasing pack are scrapping for the two places in the qualification round, with Italy and France doing their chances no harm by recording 6-4 wins over Romania and Lithuania respectively to stay firmly in contention.

Top spot in Group C will be a straight battle between Russia and hosts Switzerland with both teams set to meet on Thursday after they earned their sixth victories of the Championships after beating New Zealand 10-3 and the Czech Republic 12-2 in their ties.

Meanwhile, Germany and Norway are tied for the Group B lead having recorded five wins and only one defeat, with the German team having claimed a potentially crucial 5-4 win over Canada in their game, meaning their opponents slipped to third.