Even the backing of a large home crowd could not inspire Russia as they lost 10-4 to 2013 world champions Dorottya Palancsa and Zsolt Kiss.

Hungary took the first big advantage, scoring three points in the fourth end to lead 5-3, and they managed to hold on to it to beat their previously undefeated opponents.

"This 10-4 win might look an easy win, but it was a very difficult game,” said Kiss.

“Our strategy, forcing them to play take-outs, led to our success.

“We were in a very good position in most ends, maybe except for the first end, and in the last one they could have scored four - I was actually a bit nervous because of that, but luckily we came out of the game with a win."

Hungary now face a semi-final tie against undefeated Norway, who beat Denmark after stealing one point in each of the last two ends to win 6-4.

This is the second time that Norwegian duo Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten have qualified for the semi-finals after finishing fourth in Fredericton, Canada, two years ago.

“The key to winning tonight was just to keep calm actually, and make the important shots because we were in trouble a lot of times,” said Nedregotten.

North American neighbours the United States and Canada played out a close game, with the teams tied at 5-5 come the fourth end break, but it was the latter who progressed to the semi-finals, scoring three crucial points in the fifth end on their way to a 9-6 win.

"It’s great to reach the semi-finals,” said Canada’s Kalynn Park, who partners Charley Thomas.

“I can definitely improve though, but Charley played really well.

"I just struggled with the draw weight a little bit at the end there so I need to pick that up, but other than that everything else was great.

“The key to winning tonight was definitely just staying calm and taking the chances when we got them.

“They didn’t give us much so just really capitalising when they did get those misses, that was the difference for sure."

Sweden’s Camilla Johansson and Per Noreen, two-time World Mixed Doubles silver medallists, await Canada in the semi-finals following their 8-3 win against Estonia after seven ends of play.

“It feels terrific to have won,” said Sweden coach Mikael Andersson.

“We didn't play well in the middle of the competition, I mean game five or six wasn’t good, so we had some good discussions and it improved from there.

“We played really well the last two games so we can go into the semi-finals feeling good.”

Earlier in the day, tie-breakers confirmed the final standings in two of the groups, before the quarter-final qualification game completed the last-eight line-up.

Denmark won their tie-breaker 6-4 against Japan to finish third in Group A, while in Group B there were two tie-breakers to decide who finished second and third.

Sweden won 7-6 against Finland, while Italy defeated Latvia 9-7, and given that Sweden had defeated Italy in the round-robin stage, they finished in second position and automatically qualified for the quarter-finals, with their opponents having to settle for third.

Hungary’s superior Draw Shot Challenge results to those of fellow third-placed finishers Denmark and Italy saw them qualify directly for the quarter-finals.

That left the other two nations to play out the quarter-final qualification game, which Denmark won 8-4.

The semi-finals are due to take place tomorrow morning, after which the winners will contest the gold-medal match and the losers will go head-to-head for the bronze medal in the afternoon.


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