20 April 2024

Two-win opening day for Estonia, Germany and Switzerland

Saturday’s first day of round-robin action at the World Mixed Doubles Championship saw the ten Group A teams play twice, while Group B had just one game.

After these first two games, Estonia, Germany and Switzerland share the Group A lead, each on two wins.

Estonia followed up their 7-5 morning win over Türkiye with a 7-4 defeat of Japan. In their evening game, Estonia opened with a score of two in the first end and stole two in the seventh on the way to their win.

Germany beat Denmark by 6-4 and then France by 9-5; while Switzerland defeated France by 8-4 in the morning and then were 8-4 winners over Italy in the evening, scoring two in the seventh end and then stealing two in the eighth to seal their win.

After their second win of the day, Germany’s Lena Kapp said, “That was a better game than this morning – we kept control during the game.”

And her partner Sixten Totzek agreed, “We had a better feeling this time. This time we had the option to sweep the stones, so we’re happy.”

After their morning win over Türkiye, Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee said, “The conditions are new for everybody, so it’s important to get a handle on it first.”

Her partner Harri Lill added, “It doesn’t really matter who you’re playing in mixed doubles. You just have to make your shots.”

Denmark, Italy, Japan and Türkiye all had mixed fortunes in Group A—winning one and losing one, while Spain, France and Norway are still looking for their first wins.

In the one session of Group B, Scotland played Czechia. The game was tied at 3-3 as the teams played the sixth end, after the Scots had pulled back an early Czech lead. In the sixth, the Czechs missed out an attempted score of four, to give Scotland a steal of one and a 4-3 lead. Scotland then completed their come from behind victory, by 7-3.

China were up against Netherlands. In the seventh end, with China leading by 6-3, Netherlands’ Vanessa Tonoli drew her final stone to score two and reduce the Chinese lead to 6-5. Despite this, China went on to win by 9-5.

Hosts Sweden faced United States in this session. The game was tied at 5-5 as the teams played the eighth and last end. In that end, Sweden’s Isabella Wranaa played a hit to score one and seal a 6-5 win for the Swedes.

New Zealand faced Canada. By the sixth end, the Canadians had built a 7-1 lead. In that end, New Zealand’s Courtney Smith managed to score one point with a hit, to reduce the Canada lead to 7-2. Afterwards, New Zealand conceded the game, giving the Canadians an opening 7-2 victory.

In the fifth game of this session, Korea faced Australia. As the teams played the eighth end, Korea led by 5-4. In this end, Australia’s Tahli Gill had a chance to score two points for the win, but her hit went wrong, and they had to settle for just one point to tie the game at 5-5 and force an extra end.

Then, in the extra end, Korea’s Kim Jiyoon had a complete miss, giving Australia a steal of one point and a 6-5 win.

Click here for the standings after day one.

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