Leader Sebastian Soderberg bracing for 'mentally challenging' weekend in China

The in-form Swede, who has finished second in his last two starts, added a second round of 65 to his opening 63 at Hidden Grace Golf Club for a halfway total of 128, 16 under par.

England's Paul Waring also returned a 65 to reach 13 under, with Italy's Guido Migliozzi another stroke back and Czech world number 1,492 Gordan Brixi part of a three-way tie for fourth on 11 under.

"It's been two very good days of course, but we're halfway through the tournament and as soft as it is it's very scoreable," said Soderberg, who also shared the halfway lead in the ISPS Handa Championship last week.

"I think the challenge still is off the tee. You have to hit it quite straight so I wouldn't say I'm too relaxed, but it's a nice position to be in.

"It's just (about) staying in the present, taking one shot at a time and just trying to see the positives and not the negatives. It's going to be a mentally challenging weekend for sure.

"I feel very confident, I know it's just the pressure's a lot higher when you're leading heading into the weekend.

"You really have to keep your emotions in check and I think being in this position for a few weeks is going to help me hopefully.

"The last two tournaments there were two guys kind of running away with it and I felt like I did quite well on those last two days. Hopefully I can just stay as calm as possible."

Waring, whose sole DP World Tour title to date came in the Nordea Masters in 2018, said: "I'm very happy with my first 36 holes. I'm driving it great and my wedges have been good.

"I missed the cut last week but it hasn't bothered me at all. I've had a couple of top-10 finishes this season, but I feel like my results haven't represented how well I have been playing on the course.

"It's been nice to see myself towards the top of the leaderboard so far this week."