GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Team Canada wasn't curling its best, but Kevin Martin 's rink still managed a passing grade in its first real test.

Martin took advantage of a pair of missed shots by Scotland's David Murdoch to score a 6-5 victory Monday night and remain undefeated at the men's world curling championship. The Scots were the first major challenge for Martin this week. The Edmonton skip fell behind early, then battled his way back to improve his record to 5-0.

"It wasn't our best game for sure," said Martin. "They put a lot of pressure on us early. When the other team puts pressure on you, your shots are tougher. That's the way the game works."

Murdoch made a circus takeout in the fourth end to score two and take a 3-1 lead. He hit one Martin stone, then rolled parallel across the house to remove a second Canadian rock.

Martin tied the game with two of his own in the fifth, then Scotland ran into trouble.

In the seventh, Murdoch wanted to tap back a Martin stone. His shot didn't curl enough and he moved the Canadian rock into scoring position, allowing a steal of one.

In the eight Murdoch missed a double takeout, giving Martin another point and a 5-3 lead.

Murdoch tied the game in the ninth, making a pretty double takeout to score two, but that gave Martin the hammer coming home.

Canadian third John Morris said his team's patience and experience showed.

"We didn't panic down 3-1," said the two-time world junior champion. "We knew we've had some good second halves in the last couple of months.

"We just had to come out strong, execute and keep putting the heat on them. Eventually we were going to get a break and it happened."

Murdoch won the 2006 worlds, beating Canada's Michel-Jean Menard in the final. He lost the 2005 gold medal game to Edmonton's Randy Ferbey.

"We had them in a spot of bother," said Murdoch, who saw his record fall to 2-3. " "We had them on the ropes quite a lot of the game there and just never finished if off really."

The full-time curler from Dumfries has erratic this week. He lost to the Czech Republic and came up short on a final draw that allowed the U.S. to score two points for a win. He did beat Norway and France.

A crowd of 2,122 watched the evening draw in the picturesque 11,600-seat Ralph Engelstad Arena. Canadian fans waved flags and cheered each of Martin's shots.

In other evening games Denmark upset the U.S. 7-6, Norway beat Sweden 7-5 in an extra end and Australia defeated the Czech Republic 8-5.

Martin leads the standings at 5-0 followed by Germany at 4-1. Australia, Norway and the U.S. are 3-2. China, the Czech Republic, Denmark and France are 2-3. Sweden and Switzerland are 1-4.

The most difficult thing for Martin and his rink of Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert during their afternoon match against France was keeping their mind focused on the match.

Canada scored two points in the first end, then stole three in the second to thrash Thomas Dufour's team from Chamonix 8-2 in six ends.

"That's one thing we've really worked on," Morris said. "A couple of games earlier in the year we lost our focus after we got up four or five points and let the teams back in it.

"We're working at really trying to keep our focus and keep that lead going into later ends."

Martin said the arena ice has a lot of curl. That means even if a skip has a big lead, if he snoozes, he can still lose.

"It's easy to steal points out there with that much curl," said Martin, who is playing in his third world championship but has never won an international title. "You do have to keep your wits about you and make sure you finish it off."

It was a tough match for Dufour, who showed promise at last year's world championship in Edmonton after finishing 6-6 and qualifying for a tiebreaker.

"You have to play close to 90 per cent, or 85 per cent, to be close to them," said Dufour, who dropped to 2-3. "Otherwise it's too easy for them.

"We wanted to make a little attack on the first end. The second end was very close and they made some brilliant shots. After that it was very difficult."

Canada's next test will come against Germany Tuesday night. Martin plays Norway in the morning draw.

Australia pulled an upset during the afternoon, handing Germany its first loss of the championship. The Aussies scored deuces in the fifth and seventh ends for a 5-3 victory.

"It was a good game," said Australian skip Hugh Millikin, who was born in North Vancouver, B.C.. "We knew we had to play well against Germany. They are always tough. The boys stepped it up."

German skip Andy Kapp took the blame for the loss.

"The team really played well," he said. "My shots didn't come. We had a couple of chances, we just didn't use them. That was the game."