Olympic bronze medallists Team Muirhead won the EDF Energy City of Perth Ladies International at the Dewars Centre after beating Team Tirinzoni 5-4 in the final.
In a closely fought match, it was left to skip Eve Muirhead to clinch the title with her final stone and claim victory over the Swiss rink, which is ranked just below Team Muirhead in the world order of merit.
The new Curling Champions Tour event provided the perfect opportunity for Team Muirhead to get back into top-class competition after the World Championships in Canada, and they won all six of their matches after being forced into a last-minute change, with Mairi Milne replacing the injured Anna Sloan.
Muirhead said: “We got Mairi in the team at the last minute due to Anna’s injury and she played great all weekend, it was fun after the disappointment of the Worlds last week, when you’re not feeling at your best.
“So it has made a difference bouncing back from last week and hopefully that’s put us on a bit of an upward spiral again.
“That’s sport. I’d rather lose the major championships right now than in a couple of years’ time.
“These events are stepping stones hopefully to the big goal, which is the Olympic Games again, but I never like going into tournaments and not ending up on the podium, especially when we’re a team that is definitely capable of that.
Mairi Milne acknowledged the immense pressure on Team Muirhead to perform and excel at international events.
“Coming back from the worlds they would have been disappointed.
“Those girls especially go with great hopes and they came here with a lot of pressure on them because it is their competition and I’m sure they wanted to win it.”