FÜSSEN -- It was a tough day at the office for host Germany as day one of the 2007 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships wrapped up in this scenic Bavarian town.

The hometown men's team, skipped by Andy Kapp, split their games, beating Finland 9-7 in the morning but losing emphatically -- by an 11-6 count -- to Sweden's Peja Lindholm in the night draw. A count of four points in the fourth end gave the Swedes a three-point lead, which they never relenquished.

The women's team, skipped by vetern Andrea Schöpp of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, dropped both their games. The defending national champions fell 7-6 in an extra end to Scotland's Kelly Wood and were then dumped 6-3 by Switzerland's Mirjam Ott.

Switzerland dominated the opening day with both Ott and unheralded men's skip Toni Müller winning both their games to sit at 2-0. In women's play, Scotland's Wood also won twice, as did fearsome Anette Norberg of Sweden, merely the Olympic, two-time World and six-time European champion. After four teams which sit tied at 1-1 -- Austria's Claudia Toth, Russia's Ludmila Privivkova, the defending champion, Denmark's Lene Nielsen and Finland's Anne Malmi -- there are three winless squads: Germany, the Czech Republic's Katerina Urbanova and Italy's Diana Gaspari, the 2006 silver medallist.

Tied with Müller at 2-0 in men's play are Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, who beat France 9-2 and Sweden 8-6, and the surprising Danish team, skipped by Johnny Frederiksen. The Danes edged former World champion David Murdoch of Scotland 6-4 in night action, after whipping the Czech Republic's Jiri Snitil 10-1 in the afternoon draw.

Tied at 1-1 are Scotland, Sweden and Finland. Mired at 0-2 are the Italians, France's Thomas Dufour and the Czech Republic.

The Czech men ran out of time near the end of their night game, handing the Swiss the victory, which went into the books as a W/L with no score recorded.

Norway's Ulsrud was disappointed with his result at last March's Ford World Championships, and engaged a sports psychologist over the summer.

"We went to a shrink," Ulsrud grinned. "Things are different now.

"It's worked well for us this year, we have won the last two Tour events we have played, so we come into Füssen on a bit of a winning streak. It's perfect for the team." 

Just steps away from the A Division competition at the Bundesleistungszentrum Arena is the B Division action at the adjacent Bundesstützpunkt Arena. A  spectrum of colour is on display as 35 teams battle for a challenge game to qualify for the Worlds, plus the right to compete in next year's A division.

Competition continues through to the Championship Finals on December 8, with live television and webstreamed coverage on Eurosport, NRK (Norway), Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.