Scotland’s Katie McMillan and Angus Bryce forced themselves into play-off contention with a two win day at the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships in Geneva, beating Czechia and previously unbeaten Canada.
The Scottish pair, who are making their debut at this event, were on top from the start of both matches as they registered a commanding 9-2 victory over the Czechs and they carried the confidence from that performance into their meeting with the Canadians where a powerful performance in the second half of the match saw them run out 8-5 winners.
“We had a very controlled game this morning against Czechia after a bit of a pivotal turning point at the third end, where I made a good double for three and we pretty much never looked back from that point,” said McMillan.
“We managed the ice a lot better this morning than we did two mornings ago, so that was a very nice way to go into this evening’s game.” 
A fine draw shot challenge effort then gave them last stone advantage against the Canadians and they made it count scoring two at the opening end.
While their opponents then managed to level the scores by the midway break, they remained upbeat and their belief was justified when they scored a three on the resumption.
Canada then took their powerplay at the next to reduce the deficit to 6-5, but after the Scots matched that on their powerplay at the following end, they were then able to run their opponents out of stones at the last end.
“We weren’t fazed by the fact that they were unbeaten and we had a lot of momentum from this morning’s game and even yesterday and we feel we’re playing better and better every game,” said McMillan.
“At half-time we felt we knew exactly where to put the broom and that we had the upper hand, so we were focusing a lot on making sure we had eight good ends and didn’t have a bit of a dip in the middle, which we’ve done in other games to let them slip.
“So we concentrated on that in the second half and that definitely paid off for us.”
With three matches to go they know they cannot afford any slip-ups.
“It’s very important to maintain this momentum going into tomorrow’s one game day against Hungary,” McMillan acknowledged.
“We’re just looking to make sure that we’ve learned from every shot and continue to look to get better as the week goes on.”
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 – 8-7
Day 4 – 28 April
Scotland v Czechia – 9-2
Scotland v Canada – 8-5
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 