New Zealand fought back from an early shock to beat Italy 8-5 in the opening round of the men's competition at the world senior curling championships in Dunedin yesterday.
But the New Zealand women made a losing start to their campaign, falling 8-4 to the United States.
The Peter Becker-skipped New Zealand men's team made a dreadful start to its opening game.
Italy came out of the blocks with a set of hot rocks and led 4-0 after the opening end.
New Zealand struck back in the second end with three points and added a fourth in the third.
It was 5-5 after five ends and anyone's game but the home curlers kept their cool and picked up points in each of the last three ends.
The New Zealand women started solidly against the United States and trailed just 5-4 after six ends.
The Americans then picked up two points in the seventh end and one in the last end to get the win.
Setting the pace in the women's competition was Sweden, which thumped Italy 15-0.
Japan beat Scotland 8-6 and the powerful Canadians beat Switzerland 8-2.
In other men's games, Canada pipped Scotland 6-5, Japan thrashed England 10-2, Australia beat Hungary 8-6, the United States beat Sweden 7-2 and Switzerland edged Finland 6-5.
The New Zealand women were playing Italy in the late round last night.
The Dunedin Ice Stadium welcomed the 20 teams and competitors to the first world curling tournament held in the Southern Hemisphere with an opening ceremony.
Both New Zealand teams play Switzerland today.
