VERNON, B.C. -- After overwhelming their opponents through their first three victories here at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship, Canada needed all they could muster here Monday afternoon to eke out a 9-6 win over Italy.

Canada's Jennifer Jones trailed Italy's Diana Gaspari as late as the eighth end before Jones and company finally found their footing and turned up the heat on the Italians.

Jones scored a deuce in the eighth end to take a 7-6 lead and then threw the kitchen sink at the Italians the next end. When the dust settled, Gaspari was staring at three Canadian counters when she went to throw her last rock.

Gaspari came up light on her draw and gifted Canada what proved to be a decisive steal of two.

"We made a lot of big shots when we needed to," Winnipeg's Jones said afterward.

Percentage-wise, the Canadians had their worst game so far here. Jones shot just 76 percent, while third Cathy Overton-Clapham had a team low 73 percent outing.

Overton-Clapham has been battling a cold and she said it got worse today.

Gaspari, meanwhile, lamented the win that might have been.  "Our plan was to stay in the game as long as possible," Gaspari said. "We were in good position until the ninth end."

With the victory, Canada improved to 4-0 and moved back into a tie for first place with China's Bingyu Wang, who were idle Monday afternoon.

In other games, Denmark nipped Czech Republic 7-6, USA beat Germany 6-3 and Switzerland beat Japan 9-6.

The worlds resumes here this evening when Canada plays Russia, Germany plays Scotland, Switzerland plays Sweden and Czech Republic plays China.