Eve Muirhead chasing semi-final spot after win over Germany

Defending women's champion Eve Muirhead improved her chances of reaching tomorrow's semi-finals at the European Curling Championships in Tallinn with an emphatic victory over high-flying '¨Germany.

Scotland's Lauren Gray in action at Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championshipsin Tallinn, Estonia. Picture: Alina Pavlyuchik /@WCF

The Perth curler and her Scotland team-mates Lauren Gray, Vicki Chalmers and Jennifer Dodds outclassed Daniela Jentsch and her rink 9-2 to post their second win in a row.

The Scots led 3-0 early on and nursed that lead through to the eighth end, where Muirhead counted four stones to finish the match.

Their round-robin record is now four wins from seven games with two more matches – against Russia and unbeaten Switzerland – still to play.

In the men’s event, Bruce Mouat narrowly lost a heavyweight encounter against world No 1 Niklas Edin, although the Murrayfield skip had already booked his place in tonight’s semi-finals.

With qualification safely secured following six wins out of seven, top spot in the round robin section was at stake when Mouat and his rink of Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie and Grant Hardie took on the defending champion from Sweden.

The Scots trailed 4-2 at the halfway stage but struck a hammer blow at the sixth end by counting four stones to move 6-4 up.

They then looked set to hand Edin his first defeat of the week when they led 8-6 going to the final end, only for the world champion to nick a three and win 9-8.

Mouat and company will now take on Finland in their final group match this 
morning.