SOCHI, Russia, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Canada became the first team in the women's Olympic curling tournament to clinch a semifinal berth Saturday by remaining unbeaten in seven matches.
The Canadians defeated Japan 8-6 in the morning and then scored a 5-3 victory over Russia in the evening.
Canada can lose its final two matches against South Korea and the United States and still finish among the top four in the nine-game round-robin tournament. The top four move on to the semifinals, where the Canadians will be trying for their first gold medal since the inaugural Olympic curling event in 1998.
Sweden split its two games Saturday and stood alone in second place at 5-2. The Swedes fell to China 7-6 before coming from behind to down the United States 7-6.
China, Britain and Switzerland were all at 4-3 at the end of the day while Russia was 3-4. Japan and South Korea have 2-4 records, Denmark is 2-5 and the United States is 1-6.
Britain defeated South Korea 10-8 in its first match Saturday and was then upset by Switzerland in evening 8-6 to drop out of a tie for second place.
