Canada's Homan, Morris overcome China to win 3rd straight in mixed doubles curling
Canadian duo emerge with 8-6 victory over host nation
After opening with a loss, Canada's Rachel Homan and John Morris have rebounded quite nicely in mixed doubles curling at the Beijing Olympics.
The Canadians withstood a late charge from China's Suyuan Fan and Zhi Ling to earn an 8-6 victory on Friday evening and record their third win in a row.
Italy tops the standings with a 4-0 record, just ahead of Canada and Great Britain (tied at 3-1), and Sweden (3-2). The top four nations from the 10-team field at the end of the round-robin advance to the semifinals.
"It's great. We had a really strong game. We are just trying to get better and better with every game," Homan said.
Playing with the hammer, China took a 1-0 lead after the first end from Fan's final stone. Homan played a perfectly-weighted raise shot with the hammer in the next end to put Canada in front 2-1.
Some accurate shotmaking by Homan allowed Canada to steal two in the third end. The Chinese scored two with final rock in the fourth end courtesy of Fan's take-out to make it a one-point game.
Fan's raise attempt in the fifth end didn't work out, allowing Canada to score two with last rock and open up a 6-3 lead.
WATCH | Homan, Morris earn 3rd consecutive victory:
China scored one in the sixth end with a draw to the tee-line from Fan to make it a two-point contest, but Homan's take-out to close on the seventh end allowed Canada to go up 8-4.
The Chinese drew for two in the eighth end, but came up short against the Canadians.
"We can match them [Canadian team] in strength, but there were some accidents in some key shots. Then the tide turned against us," Ling said.
WATCH | Homan, Morris hang on to defeat Switzerland:
Earlier on Friday, the Canadians edged the Swiss team of Martin Rios and Jenny Perret 7-5. Switzerland's pairing are the silver medallists from the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, where Morris defeated them to claim gold alongside Kaitlyn Lawes.
The opening end was the start Canada needed and a nightmare for Switzerland.
Five consecutive misses from the Swiss allowed the Canadians to open the game with a steal of three.
Following a one-point second end, Switzerland looked poised to further cut into the deficit. That hope was cut short as Homan threw a take-out on the final stone to increase Canada's lead to 4-1.
WATCH | That Curling Show: Communication is key for Homan, Morris:
Switzerland made it 4-2 in the fourth, but Canada scored two in the fifth to widen its lead to 6-2.
Perret, though, came up big in the sixth end, getting a raise to score two and give Switzerland some life with the score at 6-4.
In the seventh end, with Switzerland threatening having three stones in the house, Homan came up clutch with a double take-out to extend Canada's lead to 7-4.
Switzerland was unable to capitalize on the final shot in the eighth end, only scoring one.
Canada returns to action on Saturday with games against Sweden (1:05 a.m. ET) and the United States (7:05 a.m. ET).
All competitions will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.
WATCH | That Curling Show: Previewing Olympic mixed doubles curling:
