Aditi Ashok stays in top 10 with third straight under par at Ladies Open de France

Saint Jean-de-Luz: Aditi Ashok battled her way through the tough back nine for the third day in succession and came back with third straight one-under 69 that kept her in top-10 in the Lacoste Ladies Open de France. Aditi, who is coming off two successive top-10 finishes in Germany and Spain, is now tied 8th, one spot above her overnight tied 9th position. Aditi is now three-under 207. [caption id=“attachment_3041450” align=“alignleft” width=“381”] File photo of Aditi Ashok of India. Getty[/caption] She opened the day with a birdie on first, but that gain was lost with a bogey on par-5 seventh, which was her first bogey of the week on front nine. On the back nine, Aditi had three bogeys, including one on the 18th. But she also had a fine streak of four birdies in five holes from 13th to 17th including three in a row from 13th to 15th. Aditi admitted that she has dropped a lot of shots on the tough back nine, but also managed to gain no less than four birdies on it in the third round. Of her nine bogeys, eight have come on back nine and a testimony to her grit is that she has seven of her 12 birdies also on back nine, including four in third round. Diana Luna was the new leader as she carded four-under 66 to move to 12-under and Beth Allen (68), the overnight leader, was second at 11-under. The first round leader, Florentyna Parker (71) was third at seven-under. The day’s best came from Amy Boulden, whose 64 saw her rise from tied 30th to tied sixth. Aditi finished in tied 9th in Germany and tied 6th in Spain and is now 36th in the Order of Merit and third in the race for the Rookie of the Year.