American teenager Jessica Korda was refusing to budge at the head of the field as the final round of the Women’s Australian Open reached the halfway mark.

Korda, 18, began the day at Royal Melbourne with a one shot lead and remained out of reach.

The daughter of 1998 Australian Open tennis champion Petr, Korda birdied the second and sixth holes as she nervelessly strode the course in windy, showery conditions.

She had moved to six under the card and was one ahead of Korean Hee Kyung Seo who held outright second spot.

American Brittany Lincicome was in third place, one shot further back while Korea’s So Yeon Ryu was three under par.

Canberra’s Nikki Campbell, who was second overnight, started steadily with three straight pars before stumbling with a double bogey at the sixth where she hit her approach shot into a trap.

Lydia Ko, the 14-year-old New Zealand schoolgirl, was in a share of 18th place among the high-class international field.

Ko holed her second shot at the par four seventh and followed with a birdie at the eighth but also had three bogeys to be square with the card for the round and three over par overall.

Four-time champion Karrie Webb was battling through another disastrous day.

Webb was six over par at the start and dropped seven shots as she closed out an ugly final round.