European champions Scotland made a good start to their campaign to add the World Men's Curling Championships in Ottawa ©British Curling

European Champions Scotland began their campaign with a 7-4 victory over the number three ranked team in the world Italy on the opening day of the World Men's Curling Championships in Ottawa.

Scotland's skip Bruce Mouat executed a double take-out as the champions came from down 2-0 to win the match-up at the TD Place in Canada's capital. 

"It was a really high quality match and that’s exactly what you want to start a World Championship, against a really tough opposition," said Mouat, seeking to lead Scotland to its first title since 2009. 

"It obviously puts you in good stead to win that game and we’re feeling really happy about the way we performed.

"There are still gears to go up, but we performed well, so it’s a nice start."

Italy did not have a great first day as they lost to hosts Canada as well with a score line of 10-6.

Canada ended the night with a win and a loss as they were defeated by Switzerland.

Olympic and world champions Sweden were also off to a flying start, beating Germany in comfortable fashion 8-2.

The Czech Republic moved atop the standing as they were dominant against New Zealand, winning 8-1.

New Zealand had a poor showing, also losing to South Korea 8-2 as they sit at the bottom of the standings in terms of score difference.

Japan and Turkey had the closest battle of the day, as the match ended 4-3 in favour of Japan.

The United States were victorious against Norway in a bout that ended 8-5.

Tomorrow's biggest match-up is set to be blockbuster between Sweden and Scotland, who are both expected to make deep runs in the competition.