VERNON – Canada upended a stubborn Italian team 9-6 to keep pace with China and United States is quietly rolling at the 2008 Ford World Women's Curling Championship.

Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones overcame deficits of 4-2 and 6-5 to defeat Italy's Diana Gaspari 9-6.

"They're a great team and (Gaspari) makes a lot of shots," said Jones.

"We tried to make it a little complicated for them, but we missed a few shots."

The Canadians weren't sharp but the Italians missed several chances to apply even more pressure to the hosts.

In other matches, the United States built a 4-1 lead after five ends and eventually passed Germany 6-3; Denmark shocked the Czech Republic by taking three in the 10th end for a 7-6 win; and Switzerland's Mirjam Ott made a masterful draw under pressure from Japan to steal a point and preserve a 9-6 victory.

"That's four in a row now," said bouyant U.S. skip Debbie McCormick. "We're piling up the W's."

The Americans lost their first match to Denmark but now sit at 4-1, one game behind unbeaten China and Canada. 

In Monday night's draw 8 action, Canada meets Russia, Germany battles Scotland, Switzerland meets Sweden and China takes on the Czech Republic.

No less than seven broadcast partners are delivering live and tape-delayed action to world curling fans. Eurosport, NHK (Japan), TSN and CBC (Canada), WCSN and NBCOlympics.com (United States) and CurlTV are all onsite in Vernon, with live results also available via curling.ca and results.worldcurling.org