Changing conditions on the second day of action at the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships in Geneva made life difficult for Scotland’s Katie McMillan and Angus Bryce as they suffered defeats to Korea and Switzerland.
Having begun the competition with an impressive 12-2 win over the USA, the first match against the Koreans proved particularly testing as they slipped behind early on, conceding a three at the opening end and a steal at the second to fall 4-0 behind and they were always chasing the game from that point.
“It was a difficult start this morning,” McMillan admitted. 
“The ice was a bit different to the way it was yesterday and this evening so we struggled to get on to top of the path and the speed.
“They played very well but towards the end of the game we started to gain a little bit of momentum so we tried to bring that into this evening’s game, which I think we did pretty well.”
They began that second encounter against the host nation’s Stefanie Berset and Philipp Hoesli with last stone advantage at the opening end and made it count, scoring two.
The teams were level after five ends and it looked as if the Scots had seized the upper hand when they turned the tables to steal two and move 6-4 ahead as the Swiss pair used their powerplay at the sixth end.
While Berset then took advantage of a chance to draw for three and regain the lead at the next end, McMillan and Bryce still looked to have the advantage as they played their powerplay, but this time it was their turn to fail to capitalise and they conceded the steal which left their opponents 8-6 winners.
“We started off with a good draw shot and then we played a very good first end,” said McMillan.
“Stealing two in their powerplay was pretty good and that allowed us to force as much as possible and the seventh end gave us a little bit of leeway and put us in a pretty good spot, but in the eighth end we just struggled to capitalise on that with execution.” 
Playing in their first major international championship together they are, however, determined to remain upbeat as they seek to learn from a tough day and get back to winning ways in their only match of day three against Finnish opponents who have also won one and lost two of their first three matches.
“Going into tomorrow we are going to take a lot from that Swiss game as we feel like we did a lot of things well, so we want to build a bit of momentum now to build going into Tuesday,” said McMillan.
20 nations are taking part in The ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships: Italy, Scotland, Australia, Estonia, United States, Canada, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Switzerland, Korea, Japan, Germany, Denmark, Czechia, China, France, Hungary and the Netherlands.
Please click here for more information about the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, 25 April – 2 May, Geneva Switzerland.
Watch LIVE games on the Curling Channel.
Schedule and results:
Day 1 – 25 April
Scotland v USA – 12-2
Day 2 – 26 April
Scotland v Korea – 4-10
Scotland v Switzerland – 6-8
Day 3 – 27 April
Scotland v Finland – 1300 GMT
Day 4 – 28 April
Scotland v Czechia - 0900 GMT
Scotland v Canada – 1800 GMT
Day 5 – 29 April
Scotland v Hungary – 1300 GMT
Day 6 – 30 April
Scotland v Germany - 0900 GMT
Scotland v Italy - 1800 GMT
Day 7 – 1 May
Qualifications - 0900 GMT
Semi Finals – 1800 GMT
Day 8 – 2 May
Bronze – 0900 GMT
Gold – 1300 GMT
