Excellent start for Eve in Canada

Perthshire curler Eve Muirhead opened with back-to-back victories at the HDF Shoot-out in Edmonton, Alberta, while her fellow Olympic skip Kyle Smith had mixed results at the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall, Ontario.

Muirhead and her teammates Lauren Gray, Vicki Adams and Anna Sloan were runners-up in Edmonton last year and looked full of confidence after reaching last week’s Tour Challenge semi-finals in Saskatchewan.

They began their Pool D programme with a 6-3 win over local skip Holly Scott but had to go all the way to an extra end to beat Winnipeg’s Darcy Robertson 7-6 after throwing away an early 3-0 lead. They play Calgary veteran Shannon Kleibrink next.

Meanwhile, Smith counted three stones at the last end as he edged Greg Drummond 5-3 in an all-scottish opener in Ontario, but later conceded a four at the sixth end to hand Corey Maus a 7-6 win.