Matt Wallace fired a battling 70 at Topwin Golf & Country Club to hold the halfway lead at the Volvo China Open.
The Englishman was one shot off the lead heading into day two and an impressive grinding effort meant he ended the day one ahead of the field at nine under.
Australian Jason Scrivener had looked set to be the man to catch but a double-bogey on the ninth dropped him to eight under alongside Spain's Nacho Elvira and American Sihwan Kim.
Spanish pair Jorge Campillo and Adrian Otaegui were at seven under with Frenchman Julien Guerrier and South Korean Soomin Lee.
Wallace has been a serial winner in recent seasons, claiming six victories - including five in a row - on the Alps Tour in 2016 before his wire-to-wire triumph at the Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort last season.
He won a second European Tour title at the Hero Indian Open last month and Friday's two under effort in windy conditions means he will be in contention again over the weekend.
"It was tough all day, the wind picked up in the afternoon," he said. "I was two under after eight holes and was just thinking we can get a couple more birdies on the back nine. But the wind just picked up and I could not get it close enough.
"There were a lot of guys on eight under par this morning and I tried to push on and widen the gap but the weather didn’t really allow me to score. Hopefully the weather will be kind.
"I am playing nice golf so to be ahead with the tough conditions today is a nice feeling and I am going to bring that over to the weekend."
Wallace birdied the second but gave the shot back on the fourth before he holed an eagle putt with a huge right-to-left swing on the eighth to jump into the lead.
I am playing nice golf so to be ahead with the tough conditions today is a nice feeling - Matt Wallace
The 28 year old then made eight consecutive pars but he had to battle after poor tee-shots on the 11th and 14th and he missed a good birdie chance on the 15th.
A bogey on the 17th after going left off the tee dropped him into a four-way tie but he layed up on the last and put his approach to four feet for a closing birdie.
Earlier, Elvira - who finished third on home turf at the Open de España 12 days ago - made four birdies in a row from the third with further gains on the 11th and 13th and bogeys on the ninth and 12th before birdieing the last.
Scrivener had birdied the 11th and 13th and he recovered from a bogey on the 14th to make gains on the 15th and first.
The 29 year old spun his second on the par four fifth back into the hole to get to double figures with an eagle but he bogeyed the next, got the shot back on the eighth, and then made that double-bogey on the ninth.
Kim - a Challenge Tour graduate in 2013 - joined him in the clubhouse with birdies on the fifth, sixth, tenth, 11th, 12th and 15th in a 66.
Campillo turned in 35 with birdies on the tenth and 11th and a bogey on the 18th. A hat-trick of gains followed with long putts on the second and third before a bogey on the fifth and birdie - thanks to a brilliant tee-shot - on the sixth.
Lee - a winner in China at the 2016 Shenzhen International - turned in 34 with birdies on the fifth and seventh and then endured a rollercoaster on the back nine, going birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey from the tenth before dropping a shot on the 16th and birdieing the last.
Guerrier started his round with four consecutive birdies from the tenth but made five bogeys in his next eight holes. Birdies on the fifth and sixth steadied the ship before an eagle on the eighth catapulted him back up the leaderboard.
Otaegui made the turn in 33 with birdies on the first, fifth and ninth and then came home in level par with more gains on the 11th and last and bogeys on the tenth and 14th.
Italian Nino Bertasio, Swede Alexander Björk, Scotland's Scott Jamieson, Australian Jason Norris, England's Jordan Smith and South Korean Jeunghun Wang were six under.
