Uphill battle for Europe in Solheim Cup final round

Europe face an uphill battle to retain the Solheim Cup, despite winning the final two fourballs on day two.

Both sessions on day two at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia finished 2-2, leaving the US up 10-6 heading into the final day singles.

Suzanne Pettersen's side will need to equal the US record from 2015 when they came back from the same deficit to win.

Trailing 8-4 after sharing the morning foursomes, Europe lost the opening two fourballs – Anna Nordqvist and Madelene Sagstrom going down 4&3 to Alison Lee and Megan Khang after leading through the front nine, while Linn Grant and Celine Boutier were soundly beaten 6&4 by Andrea Lee and Rose Zhang.

Carlota Ciganda and Emily Pedersen put some blue on the board in the third match of the afternoon, beating Ally Ewing and Lexi Thompson 2&1.

Europe reduced the overnight gap to four points as the English pair of Charley Hull and Georgia Hall finished two up against Allisen Corpuz and Lilia Vu.

Hull had a simple message to the European team heading into the singles, who were given the daunting task of lifting the cup for a record fourth time in succession.

"Win your own point, have fun out there, enjoy it," she said. "Just kick some ass."

Pettersen was adamant that Europe are "still in it", citing the Ryder Cup victory from an identical situation at Medinah in 2015, but admitted her side needed a "massive day" to hold on to the trophy.

"We’re still a long way behind, but if there’s hope, there’s always a chance," she said.

"These girls are going to go to bed tonight thinking that we have every opportunity. It will be a miracle, but we’ve seen it before."

US captain Stacy Lewis admitted Europe had played a lot better than on the opening day and revealed a simple game plan for