Gurgaon: Smriti Mehra played a tidy round of even par 72 with two birdies and two bogeys to join Nalini Singh Siwach (75) in shared lead at the end of the second round of the Hero-Classic Golf Resort Women’s Pro Golf on the Hero-WGAI Tour.

Nalini, who was very steady on the first day meanwhile struggled with four birdies and just one birdie and Saaniya Sharma repeated her first round score of 74 to be third.

Neha Tripathi looked like finally doing justice to her ability as she turned in three-under, but three bogeys on the back nine brought her back to even par and she was tied fourth at 149 with Vani Kapoor (74), who seemed lacklustre with two birdies and four bogeys, including one on the par-5 18th. Ankita Tiwana (80, 74) was sixth.

Smriti, who has won three times in seven events this season and leads the Order of Merit race by a handy margin, opened with a bogey and had a second one on seventh to be two-over. But she used all her experience to haul herself out of the slump to birdie the ninth and 15th and par the rest for a 72.

Nalini just did not get going as she bogeyed the third and eighth, though the birdie on tenth gave her some confidence. But with putts not falling and two more bogeys on 12thand 17th she finished with a 75.

The stage is now set for a keen tussle between Smriti and Nalini, but with Saaniya just one shot behind and Neha and Vani only two behind, the top five are within two shots of each other.