Muirhead hits form in Bern

Courier columnist Eve Muirhead made an ultraefficient start to 2018 as she easily won her first two matches at the Bern Cup in Switzerland yesterday.

The Perthshire curler and her team-mates Lauren Gray, Vicki Adams and Anna Sloan showed encouraging form ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, beating Cynthia Gertsch’s Swiss rink 6-2.

The Scots were champions in Bern in 2014, but skip Marina Hauser stayed in touch until the third end where Team Muirhead counted four stones to lead 5-1.

Muirhead then produced a sensational finish to make it two wins out of two last night.

The Blair Atholl curler trailed American Sarah Anderson, a late replacement for Cory Christensen, all the way after conceding two stones at the opening end, and she was still 4-3 behind with time running out.

Muirhead and her team then moved into another gear, scoring threes at both the sixth and seventh ends on their way to a 9-4 victory.

They meet St Petersburg’s former European champion Victoria Moiseeva next.