Canada's Gushue now 5-3 at Beijing Olympics after split day

BEIJING — Brad Gushue knew he didn't have to do anything extraordinary with last rock.

He kept it simple and got the shot he needed, and Canada's men's curling team in the mix at the Beijing Olympics.

Gushue hit a tap against two in the 10th end as Canada picked up its third straight victory with a 10-8 win over China on Tuesday.

"I was just trying to focus on what I needed to do," Gushue said. "Throw the right way, hit the broom. It was not a very difficult shot. So I was just trying to make sure I threw proper."

Canada appeared to be in control after a three-point eighth end gave Gushue's foursome a 9-6 lead.

China came back with two in the ninth end, and skip Ma Xiuyue drew to the button with his last shot of the 10th to put his team in a position to steal.

Gushue, who curled 90 per cent in the game, was on target with his final shot to give Canada the victory.

"Any win here is a good win," Gushue said. "We played good, we didn't play great. We got a couple of misses out of them in the eighth end, which gave us an opportunity for three (points) and just held on after that.

"If China makes those shots (in the eighth end), we probably only get one, and at seven-six you can never know what could happen."

Later on Tuesday, Gushue suffered a 7-6 extra-end loss to Russia.

The loss dropped Canada to 5-3, while the Russians improved to 4-4.

Only the top four teams at the end of the round robin qualify for the semifinals.

Sitting in third place, Gushue will need a win over Great Britain on Wednesday, his final game of the round robin, to assure Canada advances to the medal round.

Canada's women's team was idle Tuesday. Skip Jennifer Jones and her rink were at 3-3 heading into games Wednesday against the United States and