Casandra Alexander fired an opening round of 64 to lead by two strokes at the end of the first day of the Wistron Ladies Open.

The South African star went out in the afternoon wave at Sunrise Golf and Country Club making her first birdie of the day on the second hole.

She made further birdies on the sixth and eighth holes to make the turn in 33 (-3) before adding birdies on holes 11, 13 and 14.

The Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit leader then finished with a flourish sinking her eagle putt at the last to sit atop the leaderboard on eight-under-par.

“My back was a little tight on the range, so I hit some dodgy shots there and I said to Doug [caddie] that my back is feeling tight so let’s see what happens,” said Alexander.  “I got onto the course and felt a lot better.

“I started racking up a few birdies, obviously bogey-free helps because every birdie counts. I had a bit of a slow end between the turn, but I think I capitalised on most of the par-5s. I hit a lot of good wedges, so that was converting into birdies every now and then. I was quite happy and then finishing off with an eagle is always nice.

“It was special. Yani [Tseng] is really cool. It’s not my first time playing with her, she’s a really nice girl and I really enjoy playing golf with her. She’s up for a chat and if you ask for advice, she’ll give it to you. She’s still got it, I’ll be honest. She hit a shot and it was just pure. I really enjoyed it and looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of the week.

“If you look at the weather and what it says the speed is, we’re on the top of the hill, so you can double that. Our practice conditions were super windy, but we did look at the forecast going into the week. We practiced the wind, but we also had a game plan for if it wasn’t as breezy. It did pick up a little when we turned on 10 and some of the more exposed holes on the back nine for us, but definitely not like anything we practiced in.

“We’ll go out there tomorrow, when you shoot a really good score you have got to be really patient the next day, so I know Doug is already going to give me a whole chat about that. It really is helpful, so just nice and patient tomorrow and set up a couple of birdie opportunities and see if we can convert them.”