Spain opened with a 21-15 victory over the hosts in Pool A – led by seven points from Aitana Cuevas Mediavilla – before beating Romania 21-16, with Sandra Ygueravide Viana top-scoring on nine.

China were 22-16 winners over Romania but found Italy a tougher challenge to overcome, edging to a 22-20 success.

In Pool B, only Canada have a 100 per cent winning record.

They began by edging out Hungary 15-13 thanks in no small part to Katherine Plouffe’s 11 points.

The Canadians followed that up with a 16-12 win over Netherlands, Plouffe adding another 11 to her tally.

The other games in Pool B saw Hungary narrowly defeat Ukraine 20-19 and the Netherlands beat Ukraine 20-14.

Group stage matches finish tomorrow before the knockout phase, including the final, takes place.

France, winners of the fourth series competition of the season in Yekaterinburg in Russia, have not entered.

It means none of the three teams to have claimed victory this year – France, Australia and the Czech Republic – are involved in the tournament.