Both enjoyed wins in the fourth session of round-robin play in St Gallen, although they were achieved in very different styles.

Sweden beat Germany by 8-2 in just six ends, helped by a split tap-up in the third end on one of skip Anna Hasselborg’s own stones to score two points. 

A delighted Hasselborg said: “That was another really good game from our side. 

"After the early force, we scored two and played better and better. 

"The ice and the arena is fantastic and now we just want to move on and try to improve even more in the upcoming games.”

By contrast, Switzerland’s skip Silvana Tirinzoni had to draw the final stone of the tenth end into the house to score the one point that sealed her team’s 8-7 win over Russia.

Tirinzoni said: “I am really really glad we came out with the win here. 

"It wasn’t easy at all. 

"It was a very exhausting game. 

"The luck was on our side I guess. 

"The ice is great, but it is tricky. 

"There were some misses on both sides. 

"We just try to keep going.”

Elsewhere, Turkey scored four points in the third end of their game against Hungary and followed that up with five points in the seventh end to complete their 12-5 win.

Scotland faced previously unbeaten Italy and dominated from the start, scoring two points in the first end to set up an 8-1 six-end victory.

The Czech Republic lost 6-3 to Denmark who recorded their first win, a result that leaves only Germany and Russia without wins so far.

A relieved Madeleine Dupont, Denmark's skip, said: “That win has been a time coming, but we did have a tough schedule with Switzerland, Sweden and Scotland in our first three games. 

"I don’t think there is anything wrong with our game, we know it’s hard to compete with these professional curlers when we practise a few times a week – that’s just curling.”

In the men's section hosts Switzerland and defending champions Sweden remain undefeated, although Sweden required an extra end by skip Niklas Edin to gain a 10-8 fourth win over Russia.

Switzerland enjoyed a quick-fire six-end 8-2 win over Italy and remain ahead of Norway and Scotland who share third place on the leaderboard.

Peter de Cruz, Switzerland's skip said: "We were fortunate that they made so many mistakes, the score did not reflect what it should have been, but we took full advantage. 

"We still have a lot of good teams to play so it’s not going to be an easy ride. 

"We’re only 4-0 and we’ve more than half the games to go."

Norway beat Slovakia by 7-2, while Scotland suffered their first loss at the hands of Germany. 

A delighted Germany skip Alexander Baumann said: "That was a great team performance.

"It’s so much easier for me to play my shots when they’re playing so well. 

"We will see how we get on, we’re just taking it game by game."

The Netherlands beat Austria by 8-3, scoring three points in each of the third and eighth ends to build their score, meaning that they and Germany – both on two wins and two losses - are both still challenging strongly for semi-final places.

Jaap van Dorp, skip of The Netherlands, said: "We’re still absolutely on target for world qualification. 

"We had a good game there against Austria, but we’re playing well in all our games. 

"There’s plenty of games to go and we’ve got to keep the performance up. 

"We’ve had a lot of competition games this year. 

"That’s good for us and we’re pretty close to the other teams as to how we prepare."