Stacy Lewis of the United States finished with a three-under par 69 to stay a shot clear of the field midway through the Evian Masters.
The world number three had an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys in her second round at Evian-les-Bains, France, to leave her 12 under par following her course record-equalling round of 63 on Thursday.
The 27-year-old Texan's progress stalled with bogeys today at the 12th and 14th holes but she recovered well with birdies at the 15th and 18th to stay clear of second-placed South Korean Ilhee Lee, who is 11 under after rounds of 66 and 67 in her first appearance in the tournament, following a career-best tie for fourth in the recent US Women's Open.
South Korea's Inbee Park and the United States' Paula Creamer share third place on nine under.
Lewis, who finished second last year, told www.ladieseuropeantour.com after her round: "Today was actually a little bit more of a struggle for me. It's hard when you make pars and you feel like you're going backwards because of all the birdies I made yesterday.
"It wasn't the best, but I made two birdies late and fought through it."
Collated second-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
132 Stacy Lewis (USA) 63 69
133 Il-hee Lee (Kor) 66 67
135 Paula Creamer (USA) 68 67, Inbee Park (Kor) 71 64
136 Mika Miyazato (Jpn) 67 69
137 Beatriz Recari (Spa) 71 66, Hyo joo Kim (Kor) 69 68, Hee Young Park (Kor) 65 72
138 So yeon Ryu (Kor) 73 65, Jiyai Shin (Kor) 69 69, Natalie Gulbis (USA) 69 69, Azahara Munoz (Spa) 70 68, Meena Lee (Kor) 69 69
139 Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 72 67, Karrie Webb (Aus) 70 69, Se Ri Pak (Kor) 70 69, Julieta Granada (Par) 74 65
140 Cheyenne Woods (USA) 71 69, Christina Kim (USA) 73 67, Cristie Kerr (USA) 71 69, Hee Kyung Seo (Kor) 71 69, Amy Yang (Kor) 72 68, Brittany Lincicome (USA) 73 67, Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa) 69 71, Suzann Pettersen (Nor) 69 71, Brittany Lang (USA) 71 69, Shanshan Feng (Chn) 68 72
141 Mirim Lee (Kor) 73 68, Lindsey Wright (Aus) 71 70, Mariajo Uribe (Col) 67 74, Sun Young Yoo (Kor) 73 68, Chella Choi (Kor) 73 68, Hee-Won Han (Kor) 72 69, Maria Hjorth (Swe) 72 69, Ji-Na Yim (Kor) 72 69, Ai Miyazato (Jpn) 71 70, Becky Morgan 70 71, Momoko Ueda (Jpn) 69 72, Ha-Neul Kim (Kor) 70 71, Katherine Hull (Aus) 71 70
142 Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 73 69, Ran Hong (Kor) 74 68, Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 72 70, Jenny Shin (USA) 73 69, In Kyung Kim (Kor) 69 73, Haeji Kang (Kor) 72 70, Karine Icher (Fra) 70 72
143 Giulia Sergas (Ita) 71 72, Jennifer Johnson (USA) 73 70
144 Linda Wessberg (Swe) 75 69, Jessica Korda (USA) 77 67
145 Miki Saiki (Jpn) 76 69, Hye youn Kim (Kor) 73 72, Cindy Lacrosse (USA) 76 69, Kaori Ohe (Kor) 74 71, Sandra Gal (Ger) 69 76, Jennifer Song (USA) 73 72, Michelle Wie (USA) 73 72, Na Yeon Choi (Kor) 75 70, Danielle Kang (USA) 75 70, Anais Maggetti (Swi) 76 69, Alison Walshe (USA) 76 69, Laura Davies 73 72, Carly Booth 72 73
146 Felicity Johnson 73 73, Shin-ae Ahn (Kor) 74 72, Catriona Matthew 74 72, Juli Inkster (USA) 71 75, Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 71 75, Caroline Afonso (Fra) 73 73, Pernilla Lindberg (Swe) 74 72, Jodi Ewart 70 76, Min-Young Lee (Kor) 74 72, Mina Harigae (USA) 75 71, Amanda Blumenherst (USA) 73 73
---------------------------The following players failed to make the cut-------------------------
147 Eun Hee Ji (Kor) 75 72, Kristy McPherson (USA) 74 73, Katie Futcher (USA) 74 73, Vicky Hurst (USA) 74 73, Gerina Piller (USA) 75 72, Yani Tseng (Tai) 76 71, Angela Stanford (USA) 76 71, Helen Alfredsson (Swe) 71 76
148 Jia yun Li (Chn) 72 76, Mindy Kim (Kor) 76 72, Jeong Eun Lee (Kor) 77 71, Christel Boeljon (Ned) 75 73
149 Wendy Doolan (Aus) 75 74, Karen Lunn (Aus) 71 78, Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 73 76, Tiffany Joh (USA) 78 71, Morgan Pressel (USA) 76 73, Melissa Reid 73 76, Lexi Thompson (USA) 74 75, Jimin Kang (Kor) 74 75, You-na Park (Kor) 74 75
150 Karen Stupples 81 69, Caroline Masson (Ger) 76 74, Candie Kung (Tai) 77 73
151 Ryann O'toole (USA) 75 76, Amy Hung (Tai) 74 77, Trish Johnson (USA) 77 74
152 Xiyu Lin (Chn) 74 78, Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 79 73, Diana Luna (Ita) 76 76, Sophie Giquel-bettan (Fra) 77 75
154 Line Vedel (Den) 74 80, Anna-Lise Caudal (Fra) 80 74, Karin Sjodin (Swe) 77 77
155 Sharmila Nicollet (Ind) 74 81, Rye-jung Lee (Kor) 78 77
