Japan notched its first win of the Beijing Winter Olympics women's curling tournament Friday, prevailing 8-5 against a Canada team that repeatedly failed to capitalize with the hammer.
Skip Satsuki Fujisawa and team Loco Solare scored against the hammer in the first, fourth and fifth ends on the way to a convincing victory at the National Aquatics Centre.
The result left world No. 7 Japan with a 1-1 record in round-robin play following an 8-5 defeat to reigning Olympic champion Sweden the previous day.
Japan's Canadian-born coach J.D. Lind said the team executed its game plan of setting the tone early in each end to limit Canada's shot-making options.
"Our front end (of Yurika Yoshida and Yumi Suzuki) did a really good job setting it up so that our back end (of Chinami Yoshida and Fujisawa) had some makeable shots," Lind said.
"As soon as you start to make your shots, the other team's shots become more difficult."
Japan scored on the opening end after Canada skip Jennifer Jones put too much weight on the hammer, which stopped centimeters away from conceding a second point to Japan.
World No. 5 Canada went up 2-1 in the second, raising their own guard to take out Japan's counter and score two with the hammer.
Fujisawa applied the perfect line and weight to the final stone to score two in the third, before the Pyeongchang Olympic bronze medal-winning team extended the lead by scoring one against the hammer in each of the fourth and fifth.
The Canadians were primed to pull a point back in the fifth with an unobstructed path to the button on the final stone, but Jones did not apply enough weight, leaving it just outside Japan's counter.
Canada cut the lead to 5-4 in the sixth, but Japan answered straight back with a two-ender of its own in the seventh.
Taking an 8-5 lead into the 10th and final end, Japan comfortably countered Canada's last-ditch attempt at a comeback.
The loss was the first in Olympic competition for Jones, who led an undefeated Canada to the gold medal in her previous Winter Games appearance in 2014.
"It was really going to be hard to go through undefeated for sure...it's just such a deep field," Jones said.
The 47-year-old great, who steered her side to a 12-7 win over South Korea in its round-robin opener, lauded Japan for an "outstanding" game.
"They didn't give us a sniff," she said. "We'd have an opportunity and then they'd make a great shot, so we can't take anything away from them."
Japan will face Denmark and the Russian Olympic Committee in its next round-robin games on Saturday.
Related coverage:
Olympics: Japan loses women's curling opener to champion Sweden
Ex-trainer reveals secret formula for Loco Solare curling success
