Canada's Rachel Homan tops Denmark in women's curling opener at Olympics

Canada's Rachel Homan opened women's curling round-robin play Thursday with a 10-4 victory over Denmark's Madeleine Dupont at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

Homan controlled the game after stealing four points in the fifth end. She added three more in the seventh end and Denmark conceded.

The Ottawa-based team of Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes is one of the medal favourites in the 10-team field.

Canada opened with a deuce after Fleury made a double-takeout and rolled under cover. Denmark replied with a pair, steal and force that left the game tied 3-3 after four ends.

Denmark had hammer in the fifth but Canada took advantage of some Danish misses to surround the button under cover.

The Danes tried to limit the damage but Dupont could only remove one Canadian stone on the four-foot ring to give Canada a game-turning score.

Sweden's Anna Hasselborg, Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni and Stefania Constantini of host Italy are skipping some of the other top teams in the round-robin draw.

This is Homan's third consecutive Olympic appearance. She has yet to reach the podium.

The Calgary-based men's team skipped by Brad Jacobs was idle Thursday. The Canadian men opened with a 7-6 extra-end victory over Germany on Wednesday night.