It came on a busy third day of competition at the Palladium de Champéry in Switzerland. 

Two US points in the eighth end brought the scores level 5-5 in a tightly fought encounter.

An extra end was needed to split the teams and it was China who capitalised.

It was a tough end to a long day for the Americans in which they had earlier beaten Brazil 12-3.

Scotland continued their good form with a 9-2 thrashing of Ireland in six ends. 

"Obviously playing one of our home countries adds a little extra to the game so it was nice to get the win," admitted skipper Grant Hardie.

"The ice was a little slower this morning than we expected so that challenged us. 

"It was good that we got the weight early and that was probably the difference really."

Ireland recovered well, however, to record an impressive 7-5 success over Denmark later in the day.

Hungary also enjoyed a narrow 6-5 win over Japan in another of the day's closest encounters.

They then battled hard before slipping to 6-3 evening loss against defending champions Russia.

Action will continue until October 14.

Each team consists of two male and two female players.

Round-robin competition is due to take place until next Tuesday (October 12) before knock-out action begins.