Day three of the Curling World Cup in China saw Scotland’s men notch up a convincing win, but it was a disappointing day for Scotland’s women, going down to a brace of losses.

The men’s team, skipped by Bruce Mouat, overcame Japan 9-2 to record their third win of the competition.

Canada are on the brink of securing a place in tomorrow’s final but Mouat and his rink of Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan retain a chance of joining them in the showpiece game.

The Scots take on Canada in Suzhou this morning, with a positive result needed if they are to remain in contention for a final place. And Mouat admitted he is delighted to be going into the penultimate day still not out of the running.

“I’m glad we’re back in some sort of form and hopefully we’ll play better when we face Canada,” said the skip. Following their match against Canada, the Scots will face Switzerland this evening.

Scotland’s women, meanwhile, continue to struggle, racking up two defeats yesterday.

With regular skip Eve Muirhead absent this week, the Scots are skipped by Jen Dodds but 26-year-old and her rink have struggled so far, with yesterday’s 6-4 loss against Sweden swiftly followed by a 7-5 defeat to Japan.

This leaves Dodds and her rink bottom of Group A, with their final matches against China and Sweden today.