Clinging to a 6-5 lead, American skip Debbie McCormick relied on a fine line call by vice skip Allison Pottinger and a hold on that line by sweepers Nicole Joraanstad and Natalie Nicholson to pick Switzerland's potential tying point out of the house. The resulting three accounted for the final margin and also guaranteed the Americans at least a tiebreaker for the playoffs.

USA is now 7-3 with one game left in the 12-team round robin. A win over Japan in Thursday morning's draw would clinch a playoff berth. The Japanese have been on a downward slide since a 2-0 start; they're now 3-6.

"We're in a good spot," said McCormick (Rio, Wis.). "We knew it was a big one to win. We would be in a mess otherwise."

The only team that can catch the Americans (or anyone else) from below now is a formidable one: Sweden's Annette Norberg rink, two-time defending world champions and the 2006 Olympic gold medalists.

McCormick, who skipped the U.S. women to their first-ever gold medal in the 2003 championships, is used to being in the pressure cooker, though, and is looking ahead rather than behind.

"Everyone's playing a lot better now," she said. "We're playing with more confidence. We'll probably approach the Japan game the same way as we did this one-not get too crazy, but go for it a little bit when we have the hammer. It's all going to be about good rock positioning in that game."

It was the position of Switzerland's final rock that skip Silvana Tirinzoni would probably like to have had a do-over on. After McCormick missed trying to pick out a rock placed at the top of the button by Anna Neuenschwander four shots into the end, Tirinzoni needed only to place a high center guard offsetting another guard to force the Americans into a difficult shot to win. Tirinzoni's guard curled too much, however, opening up the port for McCormick to fire through.

"We were probably looking at playing our red into their yellow if she had made the guard perfectly," McCormick said, referring to an angle raise of about eight feet.

Switzerland, in a must-win situation, had the advantage in the early ends, making a precise hit for two for a 3-1 lead after three. But the momentum began to shift when Tirinzoni rolled out on a hit for two in the fifth end, counting one instead to take a 4-2 lead into the break.

USA tied the game with a hit for two in the sixth, and took its first lead with a steal of one in the seventh, when the Swiss again rolled out of count on a hit. The Americans extended their edge to 6-4 with another steal in the eighth. In a bit of a gamble, the Switzerland went for a double takeout to score two or three. The miss seemed to take with it some of the hopes of the Swiss.

Tirinzoni also missed a double in the ninth, and with the hammer had to hit and stick against four just to score one.

"We kept putting pressure on them," said McCormick. "Even at the half, down two, we knew we had to just hang tough and not give them any steals."

Scotland also clinched at least a tiebreaker for the playoffs today with a 7-2 win over Czech Republic. Sweden stayed alive by shellacking winless Italy, 12-1 in six ends.

Live and on-demand video streaming from the World Curling Championships is available through a partnership between USA Curling, the World Curling Federation, NBCSports.com and MediaZone. More details can be found at www.usacurl.org.

Game scores: Draw 14 - USA 9, Switzerland 5; Sweden 12, Italy 1; Scotland 7, Czech Republic 2.

USA line scores:
USA 010 102 110 3 9
*SUI 102 010 001 0 5
*designates last-rock advantage in first end

Round robin standings
Canada 9-0
Denmark 8-1
Scotland 7-2
USA 7-3
Sweden 5-4
Switzerland 5-5
China 4-5
Russia 4-5
Japan 3-6
Germany 2-7
Czech Republic 1-8
Italy 0-9

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, AmerAust Technologies and Nike as well as by AT&T, General Motors, The Home Depot, and Bank of America through a joint marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

For more information: Rick Patzke, USA Curling, rick.patzke@usacurl.org.