VANCOUVER - Canada's Kaitlyn Lawes suffered her first loss at the world junior curling championships after falling 7-4 to underdog France in Draw 6 action Sunday.
Marie Coulot of France held off a listless Lawes, ending the hosts' four-game winning streak.
"(France) made shots and we didn't," declared Lawes, who actually outpaced Coulot in shooting percentage, 74 to 70. "(Coulot) was making everything. They made the key shots and we didn't capitalize on our opportunities early on.
"It's tough to go through these things undefeated, so we can only build on this."
In men's action, Canada's Brett Gallant improved to 5-0 with a 9-4 win over Russia's Andrey Drozdov.
Coulot qualified for the World Juniors through the European Junior Challenge competition held in January, and says her only goal is to stay in the championship bracket.
"I'm very surprised," said Coulot, who has only been curling for four years.
"I think we are all confident but Canada is a very good team."
Scotland's Eve Muirhead amassed six points over the final five ends to defeat Denmark's Mette de Neegaard 8-7.
Alexandra Carlson of the United States was down 5-3 at the break, but ended up scoring 10 points -- eight of them on steals -- to hammer Anna Kubeskova of the Czech Republic 13-5.
Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa earned her first victory with an emphatic 9-4 win over Sweden's Anna Hasselborg.
Canada and Scotland were tied for first place at 4-1, with Russia and Switzerland, who were both idle, were a game back at 3-1. The United States was 3-2, Denmark and France were both 2-3, and three teams were tied at 1-4 - the Czech Republic, Japan and Sweden.
In other men's action, Chris Plys and the defending champions from the United States jumped out to a 10-0 lead over Konstantin Kaempf's German rink after just three ends en route to an 11-3 six-end victory.
Denmark's Rasmus Stjerne won a narrow match, 7-6 over Switzerland's Roger Meier. Stjerne almost squandered a 7-2 lead, as the Swiss stole one in the eighth, ninth and 10th ends to make it close.
Norway's Kristian Rolvsjord beat Sweden's Oskar Eriksson 10-7.
Second-place Denmark trailed Canada by one game at 4-1. Norway, Sweden and the United States were 3-2, with China at 2-2.
The tournament is being held at the Vancouver Olympic Centre, which will host the curling and wheelchair curling competitions at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
