Canada's Brad Gushue defeated American John Shuster 7-5 on Tuesday to remain unbeaten at the Pan Continental curling championships.

Gushue, from St. John's, N.L., took the lead with a single in the ninth end and stole a point in the 10th to improve to 4-0.

Shuster fell into a third-place tie with Japan's Shinya Abe at 3-1. Abe dropped a 5-4 decision to China's Xiaoming Xu (4-0).

Gushue, vice Mark Nichols, second Brendan Bottcher and lead Geoff Walker were scheduled to play Japan in the evening draw at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex.

In other early games, New Zealand's Anton Hood thumped South Korea's Jaebeom Lee 9-1 and Australia's Hugh Millikin dumped Taiwan's Ken Hsu 11-2.

The women's draw was scheduled to resume Tuesday afternoon. The Canadian team, skipped by Ottawa's Rachel Homan (3-0), was set to play New Zealand's Chelsea Suddens.

The competition serves as a qualifier for the 2025 world championships.

Canada has an automatic berth in the men's worlds as the host country. Homan needs a top-four finish to secure a berth for Canada in the women's playdowns.