Homan-led Canadian rink improves to 5-0 at world women's curling championship

Canada's Rachel Homan defeated Italy's Stefania Constantini 8-7 in an extra end to remain unbeaten at the world women's curling championship in Sydney, N.S.

Homan's Ottawa-based team (5-0) forced the Italians (4-1) to a single in the 10th end and secured the win when Constantini's final throw overcurled to leave the Canadian rock as shot stone.

Homan and teammates Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes will return to Centre 200 in the evening to play defending champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland (5-0).

Homan, who ran the table at the Canadian championship last month, has won 21 straight games and is 54-5 on the season.

She won the 2017 world championship in Beijing with Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle. Jennifer Jones skipped the last Canadian team to win it in 2018 in North Bay, Ont.

Tirinzoni, who has secured four straight world titles, took a 41-game winning streak at this event into her afternoon matchup against Norway's Marianne Roervik.

WATCH | Canada pulls out extra-end victory over Italy in Sydney, N.S.:

The top six teams in the 13-country championship advance to the playoff round. Ties for the playoffs will be solved by head-to-head results.

The top two teams from round-robin play get byes to Saturday's semifinals. The third-place team will play the sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games that morning.

The winners of the qualifying-round games advance to the semifinals. The semifinal losers will play for the bronze medal Sunday morning. The winners meet for the gold Sunday evening.

Competition continues through Sunday.

WATCH | Homan downs Roervik on Monday in Sydney, N.S.: