RIGA, Latvia -- Canada's Rachel Homan made a nice draw to the four-foot with her final stone for a 5-4 victory over Russia's Anna Sidorova at the world women's curling championship on Monday.
Homan (3-1) moved into a three-way tie for second place in the round-robin standings with her third straight victory.
"We're making some good shots out here and when we're missing them we know why and we're learning from it," Homan said. "So it's just going to keep getting better and better hopefully."
The nearly three-hour game was a defensive battle with both teams content to wait for the other side to make errors.
Homan used the hammer to her advantage in the 10th end and her last throw was never in doubt. With a Russian guard protecting a stone by the eight-foot, the Canadian skip had perfect weight for the single and the victory.
After six draws, Sweden was the only unbeaten rink at 4-0. Canada, Scotland and Switzerland were next at 3-1, followed by Germany and Japan at 2-1. Two more draws were scheduled for later Monday.
Canada jumped out to an early lead against the European champions with two points in the second end. Sidorova was light with her final throw allowing Homan to steal a deuce.
The Russian skip got on the board with a tapback for one in the third end. She added singles in the fifth and seventh ends on steals.
Homan took the lead again in the eighth end. Sidorova's final stone was a touch heavy and ended up outside the eight-foot. The Canadian rock was just inside and Homan came through with a draw for one more to score a pair.
Sidorova hit a takeout for one in the ninth end to pull even. The Russian skip fell to 2-2 with the loss.
In other early games, Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson needed only six ends to complete a 9-0 rout of Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni. Italy's Diana Gaspari defeated Iveta Stasa-Satsune of Latvia 7-5 and Scotland's Eve Muirhead topped China's Bingyu Wang 8-5.
A few dozen fans were in attendance at the 1,000-seat Volvo Sports Center for the morning draw. A handful of Canadian fans did their best to provide a sporting atmosphere by waving flags, cheering and shaking cowbells.
Homan will play Erika Brown of the United States in the evening draw. Round-robin play continues through Thursday night and the medal games are scheduled for Sunday.
Homan skipped Canada to a silver medal at the 2010 world junior championships. She's hoping to win Canada's first world women's title since Manitoba's Jennifer Jones won in 2008.
Homan beat Jones in the gold-medal game at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kingston, Ont., last month to advance to her first world women's curling championship.
Edmonton's Heather Nedohin skipped Canada to a third-place finish at the 2012 world playdowns in Lethbridge, Alta. Switzerland's Mirjam Ott beat Sigfridsson for the gold medal last year.
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