Lima was delighted with his performance as he joined Thai star Prayad Marksaeng, Zimbabwe’s Marc Cayeux and England's David Lynn for a share of the lead. The Thai star shot a five-under-par 67, while Cayeux fired a superb 65, to also put themselves in title contention.

The Portuguese youngster birdied four holes with his only blemish of the day coming on the third for his sole bogey as he made his title ambitions known.

The 24-year-old Versaille-born Lima, who secured his card this year by finishing third at the Estoril Open de Portugal, said he hopes to continue the good work.

“The course is not very easy. My game was very consistent today as it was yesterday. My driving was perfect and my putting was good. I tried to continue playing like that,” said the Portuguese.

“You never know in golf,” said Lima when asked whether he had a chance of winning on his tournament debut. “But I know my game is good and it’s very solid. After tomorrow, I don’t know what will happen. We’ll see how it goes.

“The course design is beautiful and at first I thought the greens were not very good. But today it wasn't so bad. Everything came together and I like to come to China.”

Cayeux, the 28-year-old Zimbabwean who is still looking for his maiden win on the European Tour, was extremely pleased to have taken a share of the lead.

“I’m very happy to be eight-under so far in the tournament,” said Cayeux, who resides in Salzburg, Austria. “The temperature was hot and everything else was hot today.”

Cayeux was unhappy with the state of affairs in Zimbabwe with an ailing economy and few prospects in the game.

“Golf is going down in my country. The Zimbabwean dollar keeps going down and it’s depressing to go home. It’s hard to see any up-and-coming golfers the way it’s gone,” said the big Zimbabwean, who last completed in the TCL Classic in March in Hainan, China.

Marksaeng joined Lima and Cayeux at the top and the Thai veteran was pleased with his latest effort.

“I hit everything good today. My putting and driving were good,” said Markaeng.

Swedish star Henrik Stenson blazed a trail of glory with eight birdies, but undid all the good work when he suffered a disastrous quadruple bogey on the sixth when he had two balls in the water.

Stenson, the highest-ranked golfer at 13, carded a one-over-par 73 yesterday and finished the day with a four-under-par 68 to go five shots off the pace.

Meanwhile, defending champion Paul Casey shot a four-under-par 68 to haul himself back into title contention. The Englishman, hoping to become the China Open’s first back-to-back winner, found his rhythm as he improved Thursday’s round of 71 to put himself three shots off the lead.

The best round of the day so far came from big hitting South African Nico van Rensburg who fired an eight-under-par 64 for a five-under total.

“I hit a few balls at the range and I felt like I was playing well,” said Van Rensburg, who is three shots off the pace. “The last few months I’ve been hitting the ball well but nothing has happened and I said to my caddie that we’ll just try playing well and I’m sure it’ll come.”