Sweden's Olympic champion skip Anna Hasselborg began with victory as the first event of the inaugural Curling World Cup began ©WCF

Sweden's Olympic champion skip Anna Hasselborg began with victory as the first event of the inaugural Curling World Cup series began today in Suzhou in China.

The inaugural international competition has four legs, with winners from each event in the men's, women's and mixed doubles disciplines gaining a spot at the Grand Final in Beijing.

Eight teams in each event have been split into two pools of four and will play in a double round robin tournament, with the top two teams progressing.

Matches only feature eight ends, instead of ten, and a one-stone shoot-out will determine the winner if there is a tie.

Hasselborg, the Pyeongchang 2018 gold medallist, skipped her country to a 6-3 win over hosts China in Group A at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre.

There was also a win in the group for Scotland, 6-5 over Japan.

In Group B, United States beat South Korea 8-6 and Canada pipped Russia 6-5.

The men's event saw defeat for Sweden's reigning world champion skip Niklas Edin.

Scotland enjoyed a big victory in the men's competition ©WCF
Scotland enjoyed a big victory in the men's competition ©WCF

Edin, the Olympic silver medallist, lost the Pyeongchang 2018 final to an American quartet led by John Shuster and was beaten by the United States again.

This time, Rich Ruohonen guided the US rink to victory, 5-3.

China suffered another home defeat elsewhere in Group A, going down 4-2 to Norway.

Group B saw Canada beat Switzerland 6-4 and Scotland demolish Japan 9-1.

In the mixed doubles, Olympic silver medallists Jenny Perret and Martin Rios of Switzerland enjoyed a big 12-1 Group B win over home Chinese team Jiaxin Yu and Xiangkun Wang.

The US were equally strong in the group's other match, beating South Korea 10-1.

In Group A, Canada beat Norway 9-5 and Sweden pipped Russia 7-6 using the one-stone shoot-out rule.

Competition continues tomorrow.