Diksha tied third with one round to go in Italy, Pranavi and Tvesa make cut

Rome, Jun 16 (PTI) India's Diksha Dagar battled it out in the second round of the Ladies Italian Open with an even par 72 that gave her the tied third position at 5-under 139 here.

The Indian, who has two wins to her name on the Ladies European Tour, shot 67 in the first round and added a 72 with one birdie and one bogey in the second.

Diksha is two shots behind sole leader England's Amy Taylor (70-67) who is 7-under and one behind Switzerland's Tiffany Arafi (66-72) at 6-under.

Diksha shares the third place with Singapore's Shannon Tan (71-68) and Spain's Fatima Fernandez Cano (66-73), who are all bunched at 5-under 139.

Of the other Indians, Pranavi Urs (73-70) rose to tied 17th with one round to go, while Tvesa Malik (73-72) also made the cut and is T-41.

Ridhima Dilawari (75-73) and Vani Kapoor (72-77) missed the cut. The cut fell at three-over par with 67 players making it through to the final round.

Diksha who has been consistent this season has not been able to find herself in the Top-10 as often as she did last year, when she won once in Czech Ladies Open among her nine Top-10s and it included a third place in her the Women's Indian Open.

This season the best has been a third-place finish at Joburg Open, but she is hoping to have a shot at a third win as she is just two behind the leader.

On a day when many of her birdie putts stopped just short or slid past, Diksha birdied just one on the 17th after dropping a shot early on the ninth.

Pranavi Urs was flying high after starting from the tenth. She birdied five times between the 13th and the 18th and it included a bogey on the 15th.

A birdie on the first after the turn meant she was 5-under and in line for a place in Top-10. Then came three bogeys on the third, fourth and eighth and a good part of gains were gone as she finished at 70. She is now T-17.

Tvesa was on the cutline after bogeys on the second and the 10th. She recovered on the 14th and 15th with birdies to make the cut at T-41.

Amy Taylor, playing early, had a great day, carding six birdies and dropping just one shot at Golf Nazionale to move into the outright lead as she chases a maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) win.

In solo second was Tiffany Arafi, one of the three leaders after round one.

She had a mixed day carding three birdies and three bogeys for an even-par round.

Spain's Fatima Fernandez Cano scrambled well to post a 73 despite a triple-bogey on her 10th hole, the par-5 1st. She was with three winners, including Diksha Dagar, Pia Babnik and Shannon Tan.

Three players are tied for seventh on four-under par, a trio consisting of Australia's Kirsten Rudgeley, America's Katherine Muzi, and Spain's Maria Hernandez. PTI Cor AH AH