Set to return on Saturday morning to finish her final two holes, Kyriacou started her second round with a bogey before peeling off three consecutive birdies to climb to seven-under.

Two more birdies would come at the two par-5s on the front nine, the seventh and ninth, for the Sydneysider to make the turn in four-under and right in the mix. The 23-year-old Kyriacou returning to the “boring” golf she described after her opening round, with seven straight pars before the weather arrived.

Chasing a second major win in France, Kiwi Lydia Ko is 13 holes into her second round and sharing 25th place on four-under, while her fellow Evian Championship winner Minjee Lee will be happy to have finished her round in two-under to sit three-under overall and in a tie for 30th.

Gabi Ruffels and Grace Kim are next best of the Australians, with the pair sharing 43rd at one-under. Ruffels, like Lee, will enjoy a sleep-in on Saturday, having already signed for a one-over round, while Kim is even-par through 11 holes having mixed three birdies with three bogeys in round two.

Hannah Green is the only other Australian to have completed her round, with the major champion signing for a four-under 69 and even-par total to sit just inside the cutline.

Meanwhile, Sarah Kemp has nine holes to improve her two-over total and Hira Naveed three holes to move from five-over as the pair chases some weekend work with the predicted cutline currently at even-par.

Play will resume at 7:30am local time (3:30pm, AEST) with the third round set to begin at about 10:45am (6:45pm, AEST) after the cut to the top-65 and ties is made.

Australasian scores:
T-2 Steph Kyriacou -9 (16)
T-25 Lydia Ko -4 (13)
T-30 Minjee Lee -3 (F)
T-43 Gabi Ruffels -1 (F)
T-43 Grace Kim -1 (11)
T-54 Hannah Green Ev (F)
T-78 Sarah Kemp +2 (9)
T-105 Hira Naveed +5 (15)