Victor Perez and Kurt Kitayama were tied at the top of the leaderboard early on the second day of the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open at Anahita.
American Kitayama began the day a single stroke behind overnight leaders Perez and S Chikkarangappa but he covered the front nine in 33 shots on Friday morning to get to ten under par.
It was not all plain sailing for Kitayama, though, with the Qualifying School graduate following an opening birdie with a disappointing double bogey at the long second to drop back to six under.
But he bounced back in style, reeling off four birdies in a row from the third to grab the outright lead.
He was soon joined at the summit by Frenchman Perez after he recovered from a bogey on the second hole by picking up shots at the ninth, tenth and 14th to climb to ten under.
Trevor Fisher Jnr was one shot behind the co-leaders in third after producing one eagle and four birdies in his first 15 holes.
Englishman Lee Slattery was then at eight under, one stroke ahead of South African trio Jaco van Zyl, Ernie Els and Justin Harding, and India's Chikkarangappa.
