Women's curling at Beijing 2022 Olympics Day 5 round-up: Sweden end Switzerland's unbeaten run as Canada get back on track

The race for a top-four finish in the women’s curling tournament at Beijing 2022 is heating up with just three matches now left to play.

Switzerland suffered their first defeat of the tournament on Monday (14 February), going down 6-5 to Olympic champions Sweden in 11 ends.

The Swedes took the initiative after the half-time interval with consecutive one-point steals leaving them 4-2 after seven ends.

A double in the eighth saw the world champions draw level, but Sweden scored one in the ninth to lead going into the final end.

Skip Anna Hasselborg's fine last stone left Sweden lying three, but Alina Paetz drew superbly to the button to force extra time.

But Sweden had the hammer advantage and used it perfectly to leave Hasselborg with a routine take-out for victory. It was a little nervy with her shooter just staying in the house, but it was enough to move the reigning champs to 4-2 and tied for second with USA and Japan.

Despite suffering their first defeat, Switzerland remain atop the round-robin standings at 5-1.

Team Canada look to have overcome the slump that saw them lose three games on the bounce with resounding victories over ROC and Great Britain on Monday.

Both matches were must-wins for the medal hopefuls and skip Jennifer Jones approached both as such.

After an 11-5 rout of winless ROC in the morning session, they patiently waited out a cagey start to defeat Eve Muirhead's rink in the evening.

A triple in the fifth end saw Canada take a 4-1 into the break, and they barely gave the British quartet a chance to post multiple scores.

They led 6-3 after nine ends, and a steal of one in the 10th saw the Canadians win 7-3 as Jones repeated her win over Muirhead in the Sochi 2014 semi-finals.

Both teams are now 3-3