A dominant 10-4 win against Japan gave Great Britain’s women’s curlers a chance of reaching the play-offs at the Winter Olympics.

Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff took a 6-1 lead after just three ends and sealed victory with two to spare.

It moves them into the top four and in the mix for the semi-finals.

Victories against China and the Russian Olympic Committee in their final two matches should see them through.

Both of those teams are already out of contention for the play-offs, and Muirhead’s side face the Chinese first at 01:05 GMT on Wednesday and will aim to improve on their record of four wins and three losses.

“What we did very well was not get complacent one bit,” Muirhead said. “We kept control of every end and every stone and saw the game out.

“I think whoever we’ve got our last two games against it’s going to be tough. I don’t think you can get complacent about any game out there. They’re all very hard.”

Defeat by Canada in their previous match left Muirhead’s side on the brink of an early exit before facing Japan, who beat them to bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018.

But despite sitting in second place with a record of four wins and two defeats, the Japanese struggled and gave Muirhead the opportunity to take three in the very first end.

The British skip took it decisively, and then delivered another three with the hammer in the third end for a 6-1 lead.

Japan fought back to within four after seven ends, but skip Satsuki Fujisawa tried to force the issue in the ninth to stop Britain scoring, but only managed to give up two points and the game.

Bruce Mouat’s men’s rink can effectively book their place in the next round by beating world champions Sweden at 12:05 on Tuesday.

Source: bbc