Russia advanced and remained unbeaten in the continental tournament so far with a one-sided 12-3 victory over Finland, while Sweden managed to overcome a strong challenge from world champions Norway to make it a 7-6 win.

"I felt that it was pretty much impossible to come back from the start we had," Sweden skip Niklas Edin said.

"We really didn't cope with the ice at all.

"Luckily, we got back and had a good last end and we managed to get enough points to win."

Elsewhere in the women's play, world champions and hosts Switzerland beat Latvia 8-0 in just six ends, while defending European champions Sweden had a 9-1 win over Estonia, also in six ends.

Scotland, last year's world champions, defeated Germany 10-2 in seven ends in a one-sided game and Denmark claimed an 8-6 victory over the Czech Republic in a tightly fought battle.

"We had so many chances and we missed a lot of shots out there," Denmark skip Lene Nielsen said.

"We were under major pressure in the tenth end and I'm just really, really satisfied with our win tonight.

"We had a good second end and some good shots in the last end.

"It's important that we keep believing in ourselves for the rest of the Championships."

Sweden's men are through to the playoffs at the European Curling Championships in Switzerland ©WCF/Richard Gray


Meanwhile, Italy's men claimed an 8-2 win over Latvia, defending European champions and hosts Switzerland defeated Germany 6-4 and Russia claimed a last stone 6-5 win over Scotland.

"This was a very difficult game for us," Russian skip Evgeny Arkhipov said.

"We started out well, but the key moment for us was when we took three points in the sixth end."

The Czech Republic overcame Denmark 5-3 to keep their hopes of a place in playoffs alive, while earlier in the day Sweden maintained their undefeated record with a 7-4 win over Russia.

That same morning session saw Norway securing a 7-3 victory over Switzerland, and Italy clinched an 8-7 win over Germany.

Denmark also recorded a win - their first of the week - when they beat Latvia 8-6 and Scotland overcame the Czech Republic 6-5 with a tenth end single steal when Czech skip Jiří Snítil was just too heavy with his final draw.

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November 2014: Russia and Sweden remain dominant as Finland falter at European Curling Championships