Great Britain have put controversy over team selection behind them to mount a serious defence of their Olympic title at Pinerolo.
Rhona Martin’s team secured their second successive victory in the round-robin competition with a 5-4 win over Switzerland in a repeat of the 2002 final in Salt Lake City.
Once again the Swiss suffered last stone agony as Mirjam Ott, the skip, sent her deciding shot long - ensuring Britain an unexpected win after going into the final end level without the ‘hammer’.
Jackie Lockhart, the team third, had been one of the chief critics of the time allowed for Martin’s new-look team to get together in the run up to the Turin Games.
But Lockhart said: “I think we are gelling faster than I expected. When you come to this sort of event you realise this is it and you’ve just got to make a bigger effort - we have and it’s great.”
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Britain’s new-look line-up includes two other regular skips in former world champion Lockhart and also Sally Wood - but Lockhart insisted she was finding her new role to her liking.
“The pressure is off me and the enjoyment of being third is that you still get a chance to be at the head but also down the rink with the rest of the players.
“It helps because as skips we are all shot players but you have just got to stay within your role and not interfere unless you are asked, and that is what we are doing.”
Martin’s team had struggled to wrest back their early initiative in another close encounter and Ott’s dramatic triple take-out to blank the ninth end looked like being the crucial shot.
But two costly mistakes by the Swiss in the decisive end gave Britain the notable scalp of last year’s European silver medallists and a second successive win.
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Mike Hay, Britain’s Head coach, said: “Going into the 10th end with the ice fairly straight you don’t really expect to win. But there was an unexpected miss by their third and Rhona took full advantage with a fantastic draw.”
Both Britain’s men’s and women’s teams had byes for the remainder of Tuesday’s sessions allowing them to prepare for a further step up in class on Wednesday.
Martin’s team prepare to meet the favourites Sweden in the afternoon session while David Murdoch’s men - also on the back of two straight wins - face Canada and Norway, the defending champions.