Anne van Dam maintained her lead at the top of the Ladies European Tour’s Jabra Open in France, but she had some big company after a fine showing by Linn Grant. The pair are locked on seven-under going into Saturday’s final round at Evian Resort.

Dutch star Van Dam was two clear at the start of action on Friday, and — due to an early tee-time — extended her advantage with a one-under 70.

But Grant had other ideas. The Swede responded in the afternoon with a 67 to join Van Dam at the top.

“I was solid from the tee,” Grant said. “I hit some really good shots into the green, my putting wasn’t too good though. I felt like I had a couple more birdies in me.

“The birdie on 18 was really important. It’s a typical birdie hole which I can normally reach [in two], so to not make a birdie there would have been disappointing.

“The game plan tomorrow is to go out and have fun together. I love playing with Anne, she’s really fun to play with so we’ll see how it goes.”

Earlier on, a roller-coaster round from Van Dam saw her post four birdies and one eagle combined with a double-bogey on the 10th and three bogeys.

“It was a little bit more up and down today,” the Dutch star said. “But I still actually have a pretty good feeling about today. I played pretty nicely and hit a lot of good shots. Especially off the tee I hit it a lot better than yesterday.

“I made a couple of mistakes. They’re so easy to make around here. So those two mistakes were bad, but I’m still in a good position.”

Chasing a maiden LET victory, England’s Hayley Davis sits in third on five-under-par after a posting a 67.