British curling skip Eve Muirhead admitted a day of relaxing inspired her to swat aside the challenge of unbeaten USA and return to winning ways in Beijing.
Muirhead and her rink were smarting after a defeat to Korea on Friday and the 10-5 win levels the ledger to a 2-2 record with Denmark, who have won just one of four, their next opponents on Sunday.
“I'm delighted with our performance, we had to come out sharp after the defeat and we didn’t disappoint," said Muirhead.
"We had a really good chat and had the whole day to prepare. The girls played fantastically and just made my job easy against a team that hadn't lost.
“We've got some momentum now, we need to remember the good things we did because we dwell too much on mistakes sometimes.”
Switzerland, who edged out Muirhead in the opening match of the round robin stages, are the only team yet to taste defeat in Beijing, otherwise it's a congested pack in what always promised to be a wide-open tournament.
Muirhead was a confident winner over Danish skip Madeleine Dupont at the European Championships in Lillehammer and will look for a repeat performance as she seeks another Olympic medal to go with her bronze from Sochi eight years ago.
“It's another tough game but if we come out with the same fire and attitude, I think we'll give ourselves the best opportunity to win," she added.
Bruce Mouat’s men’s rink had a day off the ice in Beijing but cheered from the stands as they enjoyed a watching brief for Muirhead’s match.
They’ve won two of their three games and face matches against hosts China and Denmark on Sunday.
“We’re settling really well into the tournament now,” said world silver medallist Mouat, who just missed out on a medal with Jennifer Dodds when he finished fourth in the mixed doubles event.
“Getting momentum is really important and two matches in a day is a great chance to really get something going.”
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