Fearless Muirhead into semis

The Scots had gone down to two poor losses at the end of their round-robin programme, but they were back to top form yesterday, with skip Muirhead given a 95 per cent success rate in the official game stats and third player Kelly Wood not far behind on 91 per cent.

Having endured a disappointing Winter Olympics campaign in Vancouver, where Muirhead led the Great Britain team, the 19-year-old skip was delighted with yesterday's win in the dark blue of Scotland. "That has to be up with our best," she said. "It was a consistent game, we were all throwing well and we came out on top. That's the way we like to play – get a couple ahead like we did in the third end, then hit for home. It worked well – whatever they did, we made one better."

The Scots dominated from the off, with Muirhead playing fearlessly. They scored a single in the first end and Sweden levelled with one in the second.

In the third, a miss by Swedish skip Cecelia Ostlund left Muirhead with a nose-hit for two and a 3-1 lead. Sweden blanked the fourth end but then Ostlund's final draw in the fifth was heavy, to give Scotland a steal of three and a 6-1 half-time lead.

Sweden scored a single in the sixth before a perfectly-judged draw by Muirhead gave the Scots a further two in the seventh end. When Sweden could only take another single in the eighth, they conceded.

Earlier Canada lost the Page Play-off with Germany by 3-6, to give Germany the direct route to the final and put the Canadians into the semi-final.

Looking forward to her match-up with Canada's Jennifer Jones, Muirhead said: "We've got a big game now and we just have to stay focused and hopefully play some good shots like we did out there.

"It's going to be a tough game, it's going to take all four of us to have our heads on the ice. We can't afford any slip-ups – they're a fantastic team and we know they'll come out fighting."

While the Scots now look odds-on for a medal, they could still finish fourth – if they lose the semi-final and then the bronze medal play-off. But even at that, it is still a step-up from their last international outing, when they finished seventh at the Winter Olympics.

Muirhead added: "Every year I'm trying to get higher. Fourth place would be progress, but we're looking for something a wee bit higher. We came out here to get a medal, and we're not thinking about Vancouver

"We're enjoying it a lot here. The atmosphere is great and everyone is so friendly."