Eve Muirhead couldn’t get the better of Russian Anna Sidorova at the European Curling Championships as the Russian remains the only unbeaten women’s skip in Switzerland – but she’ll have two immediate chances to hit back.
Muirhead went into the clash with Sidorova off the back of three successive victories after an opening loss to Denmark but found the Russian in unstoppable form as she cruised to an 8-2 victory in Champery.
Sidorova scored two in the first end and, despite responding with one point in the second and a blanked third, Scotland were not allowed back in as Russia extended their lead to three with two in the fourth.
Olympic bronze medallist Muirhead scored one in the fifth but that was it with Sidorova scoring four in the sixth with Scotland immediately offering their hands to concede the game and move on to their next two fixtures.
Russia are the only unbeaten women’s rink in Switzerland with five wins from five following Finland’s 7-4 defeat to Sweden while Scotland and Muirhead will now play Estonia and Germany in quick succession.
In the men’s draw Swedish skip Niklas Edin remains perfect with five wins while Scotland skip David Edwards suffered his third loss in a row after falling 7-4 to Germany but he is remaining upbeat in Champery.
“We played well – we ran our luck early, we weren’t great early doors, but we got back into the game five, six and seven and we played the eighth end really well, so we can take the positives from that,” he said.
“It was unfortunate that the ninth end didn’t work out for us, so it’s very disappointing. It’s disappointing to have lost that game but I think the performances are getting better.”
© Sportsbeat 2014