Had she converted from 12 yards at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, where 21,410 fans watched on, Sinclair would have become the first player ever to score in six World Cups.

However, the 40-year-old could not add to her 190 goals for Canada as Chiamaka Nnadozie kept out her penalty, which she had won herself following a video assistant referee (VAR) review.

Nigeria continued to frustrate Canada, although finished the game with 10 players after another VAR review in stoppage time prompted Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara to upgrade a yellow card awarded to Deborah Abiodun for a high challenge on Ashley Lawrence to red - the first dismissal of the tournament.

The result left both teams on one point behind co-hosts Australia in Group B on three after they started with a 1-0 win against Ireland yesterday.

In Group A, Switzerland overcame World Cup debutants the Philippines 2-0 at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, where 13,711 were in attendance.

The underdogs made a promising start, with Katrina Guillou's strike on 16 minutes ruled out for offside.

However, the Swiss were soon in the ascendancy, and handed the opportunity to take the lead on the stroke of half-time when they were awarded a penalty on a VAR review for Jessika Cowart catching the ankle of Coumba Sow.

Ramona Bachman made no mistake from the spot, and Switzerland went on to dominate the second half.

They found the second goal on 64 minutes through Seraina Piubel, who forced the ball home after Olivia McDaniel had brilliantly saved from Ana-Maria Crnogorčević and Sow.

The victory leaves Switzerland and New Zealand with three points in the group, after the co-hosts won their opener 1-0 against Norway yesterday.

Group C action began with a comfortable 3-0 victory for Spain against Costa Rica in New Zealand's capital Wellington.

Spain utterly dominated the contest in front of 22,966 fans at the Wellington Regional Stadium, although their three goals all came in a six-minute spell in the first half.

Costa Rica defender Valeria del Campo inadvertently diverted Esther González's cross into her own goal, before Aitana Bonmatí curled home a second.

González buried the rebound after Jennifer Hermoso had headed against the crossbar, and Spain had the chance to make it four before half-time from the penalty spot, only for Daniela Solera to save Hermoso's tame effort.

Heroics from Solera and the crossbar helped to keep the score at 3-0, but it was a convincing start to the Women's World Cup from Spain, who are considered likely to surpass their best performance on this stage to date - the round-of-16 in France four years ago.

Zambia are set to play their first Women's World Cup match against Japan in the other Group C opener tomorrow, with back-to-back champions the United States starting against debutants Vietnam in Group E.

European champions England are set to face debutants Haiti, followed by Denmark against China in Group D.