Gurugram, Nov 12 (IANS): Rising star Aditi Ashok finished best among the Indians with a score of level par 72 to be tied ninth after the first round of the Hero womens Indian open at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on Friday.

Aditi struggled with the back nine but three straight birdies on the sixth, seventh and eighth holes helped her finish two shots adrift of the leader group.

Commenting on the day's play Aditi said: "I hit all the greens on the front nine, so I was missing quite a few but I hit it really close on the sixth hole, to about five feet, and then close on seventh, which was 10 feet and close on eighth as well."

"I missed quite a few and they had to go in at some point. It's not a great start but it's not bad either. I can still make up for what I missed today tomorrow, so that should be good," she added.

Other Indian performers on the day were Vani Kapoor and amateur Diksha Dagar.

Vani played a cautious round to finish with a respectable score of 1 over 73. She carded two bogies, but a birdie on the final hole helped her to finish in tied 16th position.

Diksha carded 2 over 74 to share the 20th position. She could have had a much better finish, but for bogeys on the final two holes.

England's Florentyna Parker, Austria's Christine Wolf, Ursula Wikstrom of Finland and Anne-Lise Caudal of France carded identical scores to share the pole position after the first round.