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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The reigning world champion Chinese women curlers made easy work of Denmark on Friday, routing the Danes 11-1 in a shortened six-end match.
Skip Wang Bingyu, who goes by Betty, scored a five spot in the final end as Denmark tried to mount a comeback to no avail. The Chinese foursome received a rousing ovation afterward and the players acknowledged the crowd with smiles and waves.
China won its third in a row after starting the tournament with an extra-end loss to Britain on Wednesday.
"She just goes about what she has to do, whether she remembers to do the right things or not is a different story," China's coach Dan Rafael said of his captain. "Today was a blowout, yeah we played well, but Denmark didn't make very many shots. We just look at our performance, we don't look at the score."
Wang showed poise and helped her teammates finish early, saving their energy for a tough evening match with defending Olympic champion Sweden by not having to go the distance.
In the other morning games, Britain beat Germany 7-4 after scoring three in the ninth end, and the Americans pulled out their first victory following an 0-3 start by beating Russia 6-4 on Debbie McCormick's clutch hit with her final rock.
Rafael, the Chinese team's outspoken Canadian-bred coach, still isn't ready to call his team a favorite. China still must face several hard hitters in the second half of the nine-game round-robin schedule: Canada, Sweden, Britain and Germany.
"All we've been getting since last March is, 'You're world champions, you're going to win gold at the Olympics,"' Rafael said. "It just doesn't work that way. This is our first Olympics and they're all in their 20s. We've got teams here that have been here two, some even three times."
Wang had a little fun with a question when she was asked how many tough opponents her team still has to go.
"Biggest trouble? How many games have we now played? Five teams," she said with a laugh, speaking in impressive English and referring to the rest of the round-robin schedule. "That's not joking."
The Chinese, made up of a former hockey player and three ex-speed skaters, are improving with each outing.
"The second and third games we won, but only because we were better than the other team, not because we were playing well," Rafael said. "Today we were definitely sharp. I think at one point Betty was maybe curling 94 percent. You can usually gauge, and I looked at it from the beginning of this tournament, how she's going to play from her draw to the button. The first three, they weren't anything to write home about. Today, she put it like right on the pin."
