Japan eased to a comfortable 6-2 win over the Czech Republic and moved top of the standings with three wins from three.

Skip Fujisawa Satsuki said: "The ice was really tough, that was why we needed to be patient. 

"But we had a good chance to get two points in the seventh end, and we did it. 

"I think we did a good job in this end."

Behind Japan are four teams - Latvia, Estonia, South Korea, who won Olympic silver in 2018, and Turkey - on two wins and one loss. 

That is due to Latvia's 8-6 win versus Estonia, South Korea's 10-8 win over Germany and Turkey's 7-3 win against Scotland.

South Korea coach Peter Gallant said: "We’re really happy to get that win. 

"We’re not in a rhythm yet though. 

"We played some really good ends, and then some ends that aren’t as good as we’d like. 

"Overall, we’re staying focussed and playing our hardest and hopefully we can get better each game."

In the men's competition, Italy maintained their unbeaten start to the competition by ending Denmark's.

Italy defeated Finland 9-5 in the morning session, when Denmark beat Japan 11-3, only for the Italian to then squeeze past their European rivals 6-5 in the evening session.

The only other team with a 100 per cent record thus far is Norway, who beat South Kore 10-6 and then Japan 6-4 to move level with Italy at the top of the standings.

The Czech Republic also secured two wins today, against Germany and Finland to have two wins and one loss to open their campaign.

Competition continues tomorrow with two women's sessions and one men's session.