Sunday 20 September 2015 16:28, UK
Europe put themselves on course for an unprecedented third straight Solheim Cup victory with a commanding performance in the afternoon fourballs on day one in Germany.
After the morning foursomes finished all even at 2-2, Carin Koch's side won the first two fourball matches and were all-square in the third and up in the last before play was halted due to darkness following an earlier suspension due to the threat of lightning.
Europe finished the day on a huge high when Carlota Ciganda holed her second shot at the 17th for a remarkable eagle-two in fading light to pull her match alongside Melissa Reid against Lexi Thompson and Cristie Kerr back to all-square.
They will return on Saturday morning to battle it out down the last, while home favourites Sandra Gal and Caroline Masson were one up with three to play against Gerina Piller and Brittany Lang when play was called off.
Anna Nordqvist was in superb form in the opening fourballs match and played the lead role alongside Caroline Hedwall in a crushing 4&3 victory over Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer.
The Swedish pair were one up after seven holes before effectively putting the result beyond any doubt by winning the next four holes, Nordqvist making birdies at the eighth, 10th and 11th.
Creamer birdied 13 and 14 to keep the contest alive, but a par at 15 was enough to close out a comprehensive win for the Europeans.
Hull's hot putter
Charley Hull wielded a red-hot putter and collected her second win of the day, partnering Gwladys Nocera to an impressive 3&2 victory over Alison Lee and Angela Stanford.
The home pair were one up after eight before Hull hit a purple patch around the turn, following a birdie at the eighth with three in a row from the 10th to sweep her and Nocera into a four-hole lead.
Stanford pitched in for birdie at the next to reduce the deficit, but Hull fittingly rattled in the winning par putt on the 15th green to complete another memorable Solheim Cup day for the teenager.
In match three, Thompson and Kerr won the first two holes and could have been further ahead had Reid and Ciganda not countered with vital birdies of their own to keep the gap to two holes.
Reid birdied 11 and 12 to pull the match back to all-square only for the Americans to restore their two-hole lead but Reid added another birdie at 16 before Ciganda pulled off the shot of the day - a 140-yard nine-iron landing beyond the pin and spinning back into the cup.
The final match of the day was nip and tuck throughout, with Piller and Lang twice fighting back from being a hole down to level before Gal's birdie at the 11th took the German pair back into a slim lead which they retained with birdies for halves at two of the next four holes.
Foursomes split
In the morning foursomes, the visitors drew first blood in the top match when Pressel and Creamer cruised to a 3&2 victory over Nordqvist and an out-of-sorts Suzann Pettersen, but Europe hit back with wins for Hull and Reid, while Gal partnered Catriona Matthew to victory.
Thompson and Kerr were too strong for Azahara Munoz and Karine Icher in the final match of the morning, but it was the form of the highest-ranked player on the European team that would have concerned Koch.
World No 8 Pettersen struggled from the outset, duck-hooking her opening blow after Nordqvist had striped her drive down the middle of the first fairway into thick rough as the first hole went the Americans' way.
Pettersen and Nordqvist pulled back to all-square on the fourth, but they lost four holes out of seven from the seventh before making their only birdie of the round at the 14th.
Reid and Hull got the first blue on the leaderboard with a tense 2&1 win over Michelle Wie and Brittany Lincicome in a match that Europe never trailed.
Gal and Matthew were all square at the turn in their clash with Stacy Lewis and Lizette Salas, but the European pair birdied 10 and 11 and made another at 13 for a half before completing a 3&2 success on the 16th green.
Icher and Munoz got off to a horrendous start against Thompson and Kerr as the Americans raced into a four-hole lead after six, making three birdies in four holes from the third.
To their credit, Icher and Munoz halted the slide for the next six holes and then rallied superbly with three consecutive birdies reducing the deficit to one down with three to play, but the 16th was halved in pars and the American pair birdied 17 to take the match 2&1.
