Sochi, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Now the pressure mounts for the Canadian women's curling team.
Canada became the first women's team to finish unbeaten in round-robin Olympic play with a 9-4 victory over South Korea on Monday. After winning all nine matches, the Canadians will have to stay perfect in order to win their first women's curling gold since 1998.
Next up in the semifinals on Wednesday will be Great Britain. The Brits split a pair of matches on Monday to finish 5-4, beating Russia 9-6 before an 8-7 loss to Denmark. Japan dropped an 8-4 decision to Sweden in the evening session to finish 4-5, enabling the Brits to avoid a tiebreaker.
Switzerland also finished 5-4 and avoided a potential tiebreaker by claiming a 10-6 win over China. The Swiss earned the third seed thanks to a win over Great Britain and will face second-seeded Sweden in the semifinals.
The Swedes are the two-time defending Olympic champs. They finished 7-2 in round-robin play after the night session win over Japan.
A dismal Olympic showing for the U.S. women came to a close in the morning session with an 11-2 loss to South Korea. The Americans finished last at 1-8.
Norway and Great Britain will play a tiebreaker in men's curling after both lost on Monday to finish 5-4 in round-robin play. Denmark notched a 5-3 win over Norway and China edged Great Britain, 6-5.
The tiebreaker winner will meet top-seeded Sweden in Wednesday's semifinals. The Swedes were idle Monday after finishing 8-1 in round-robin action.
Canada, the two-time defending men's curling Olympic champion, will meet China in the semifinals. The Canadians were also off Monday after completing a 7-2 round-robin ledger. China also finished 7-2 after the 6-5 win over the Brits.
The U.S. men finished ninth in the 10-team tournament with a 2-7 mark after a 6-3 loss to Switzerland on Monday. Germany wound up behind the Americans at 1-8 after an 8-7 loss to Russia.