Scotland and Sweden, who tied for top spot after 10 matches, progressed straight to the semi-finals at the Orleans Arena in the American city.

The Scottish team maintained their impressive start to the tournament by dispatching Russia 7-2 in the evening session.

Sweden, the Olympic silver medallists, had earlier ousted the same opponents by a 7-3 margin to clinch their ninth triumph of the round-robin stage.

Both teams have a nine win and one loss record

Canada are third after they suffered their second defeat of the competition, losing 6-5 to the United States in a tense affair.

All three nations guaranteed their progression to the next phase of the Championship in the morning session.

Scotland edged Norway 8-6 and Sweden thrashed China 10-2, while Canada sealed their play-off spot despite not taking to the ice in the day's opening set of fixtures.

"That was an important win for us," Scotland skip Bruce Mouat said. 

"That’s a good Norwegian team so to keep above them in the standings is the main thing for us right now. 

"We didn’t have the best of starts but we stuck in as a team and made sure we were all positive. 

"It’s really exciting that we’ve qualified and now our job is to make sure we’re in the top two."

The round-robin phase is due to conclude tomorrow.