The Swiss curling teams from CC Aarau and CC Geneva got off to a successful start at the European Championships in Lohja, Finland.
The defending champions around skip Silvana Tirinzoni defeated the Danes 4:2 after nine ends, the men around Yannick Schwaller only needed seven ends against Austria for their 7:1 opening victory.
Alina Pätz from Zurich, who plays the last two stones in the CC Aarau team, presented her opponent with an impossible task in the ninth end. The Dane had to limit the damage and ensure that Switzerland only stole one stone. Selina Witschonke, Carole Howald, Silvana Tirinzoni and Alina Pätz moved into the tenth end with a 4:2 lead, in which they left nothing to be desired. The Danes congratulated them on their victory even before their last stone, allowing the Swiss to rest up a little for their second game against Norway on Saturday evening.
Yannick Schwaller, Benoît Schwarz-Van Berkel, Sven Michel and Pablo Lachat-Couchepin took care of the preliminary decision with a 3:0 in the seventh end, after they had already led 4:0 after four ends.
SDA