Unbeaten Italy have consigned Australia to another loss in the mixed curling following an earlier defeat by Norway to continue their barren Winter Olympics debut.
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As with many of the round robin matches the Australian duo of Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt was competitive against the Italians, but unable to break through for their first win.
After six ends they were down 4-3 but the Italians skipped away, collecting three points on the seventh end to take an unassailable lead 7-3 lead.
The Italian pair of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner are the only team without a loss after five rounds, with the top four teams advancing to the semi finals.
Despite the loss it was a strong rebound for the Olympic newcomers, who qualified as one of just 10 nations despite no dedicated curling facilities in Australia.
Earlier in the day at the Water Cube they suffered a heavy loss to Norway.
While the Australians rallied with three points in the fifth end, Norwegian joint flag bearer Kristin Skaslien and her husband Magnus Nedregotten scored three themselves in the sixth.
The game was then called off with two ends still to play.
Australia now have a 0-7 record in the round robin stage, with two matches remaining, and are the only team without a win in the mixed curling.
They have suffered four losses by just one point, with their camp still hopeful of securing a victory with matches against Switzerland and Canada to come on Sunday.
In an unusual twist they will line up against their coach John Morris, who is part of Canada's Olympic champion mixed pair combination and helped steer them through Olympic qualification.
Morris said he had been keeping an eye on his pupils.
"I'm cheering as hard as I can for the sheet next over, but I have my own job to do and there's no coaching going on out there," Morris said.
"They're very good friends of mine. It hurts me to see them not succeeding. But I think they've made wonderful strides to get to the Olympics. They were considered a very long shot."
Australia's assistant coach Pete Manasantivongs, who has been overseeing Gill and Hewitt's progress for the past three years alongside Morris, hadn't given up on securing their first Olympic win.
"We've had to build our resilience over the course of the competition, I'm very proud of them," he said.
"We're going to get a lucky break."
Australian Associated Press
