LAS VEGAS: World No. 1 Nelly Korda avoided a second straight collapse, but Ariya Jutanugarn maintained her advantage in Group 1 play Thursday at the T-Mobile Match Play in North Las Vegas, Nevada

Korda built a lead and held on to finish 1 up on Jennifer Kupcho, who fell to 0-2 in the event. That marked an improvement from Wednesday for Korda, when the defending champion settled for halving her match after losing a late lead to Brittany Altomare.

“Golf doesn’t necessarily bring out (head-to-head competitiveness) unless you’re in a playoff or whatnot,” Korda said. “(It) just makes you a little bit more aggressive of a player.”

Jutanugarn, of Thailand, won 2 and 1 against Altomare to continue to lead Group 1, though she will face Korda in the final leg of the round robin Friday. A win there would give either player the group.

The 64-player field is divided into 16 four-player groups competing in three days of round-robin matches. A win earns one point, a tie earns a half-point and a loss is zero points. The winner of each group moves on to a 16-player, single-elimination bracket beginning Saturday. In the event of a tie for first place in a group, a playoff will determine which player advances. The quarterfinals will be played on Saturday, with the semifinals and final on Sunday.

Overall, 12 golfers are 2-0 through two days of play at Shadow Creek Golf Course, putting each in a strong position to win her group and advance to the 16-person field Saturday.

Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul defeated Mexico’s Gaby Lopes 2 and 1 to get to 2-0 in Group 2. South Korea’s Sei Young Kim upended Japan’s Yuna Nishimura 4 and 2 to advance to 2-0 in Group 4.

Group 5 features Australia’s Stephanie Kyriacou leading the way at 2-0 after her 4-and-2 victory over Japan’s Ayaka Furue.

The only group with a pair of 2-0 golfers is Group 9, as South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim and Sweden’s Maja Stark are still perfect and face off Friday.

Other 2-0 golfers after two days include Japan’s Mao Saigo in Group 7 (the only debut golfer at 2-0), Canada’s Brooke M. Henderson in Group 8 (having played only playing 27 holes — the fewest in the field), France’s Celine Boutier in Group 11, South Korea’s A Lim Kim in Group 12, Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom in Group 14 and South Korea’s Narin An in Group 16.

Group 3 and 13 each have a four-way tie for first place at 1-1-0, while England’s Charley Hull and South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai co-lead in Group 6 at 1-0-1.

“I love this format and it’s been a lot of fun,” New Zealand’s Lydia Ko said after winning her Thursday match 6 and 5 over Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels to get into that four-way tie in Group 3. “Yesterday I came off the day not feeling like defeated. I still had a great time.”

Angel Yin (1-0-1) leads Group 10, and Russia’s Nataliya Guseva (1-0-1) is on top in Group 15.

LOS ANGELES: Nelly Korda’s LPGA Match Play title defense got off to a sluggish start Wednesday as Brittany Altomare rallied from 2-down to tie the world No. 1 on the opening day at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“To end up in a tie was a win for me,” said Altomare, who is working her way back after taking time off to have a baby last year.

“Nelly is a great player. Obviously world No. 1 and a great person. It was a lot of fun out there.”

On a day when cold, gusting winds ramped up the level of difficulty, Korda opened with three bogeys as Altomare took an early 1-up lead.

Korda’s first birdie of the day at the par-three fifth put her 1-up and she was 2-up with four to play before a bogey at 15 cut her lead to one.

Altomare nabbed her first birdie of the day at the par-five 16th to level the match.

“I reached that green in two, and I think those two shots really felt good,” Altomare said.

“I was 2-down, so I felt like that was kind of a turning point for me to keep the match going.”

Korda’s Match Play victory last year was part of a spectacular seven-title campaign.

But she has yet to win this season, with two top-10 finishes in three starts.

The tie left Korda and Altomare half a point behind Ariya Jutanugarn in group one after the Thai star rallied late to beat Jennifer Kupcho 3 and 2.

This year’s tournament features 64 players drawn into 16 groups for round-robin match play, with one player from each group advancing to the knockout rounds.

If there is a tie for first in a group, the winner will be determined by a playoff.

It is a change from last year, when the top eight players after three rounds of stroke play advanced to weekend match play.

Among other day-one matches, Canada’s Brooke Henderson came up with a big victory, winning 6 and 5 over Ireland’s Leona Maguire, who was runner-up to Korda last year.

“First hole Leona stuffed it to two feet so I had to make maybe an over 20 feet birdie putt to halve the hole. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be hard.’

She holed it and never trailed, taking a 2-up lead through three after a couple of Maguire miscues and pushing it to 3-up with a birdie at the par-five fourth.

Henderson said getting off to a strong start was important not only because of the challenging conditions but also because of Maguire’s match play credentials, which include a strong Solheim Cup resume.

“Playing with Leona, I knew it was going to be really, really tough because she has such a great track record with match play and she is such a great player.

“She was playing well. It was just a really tough day out there.”

World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand led all the way in a 6 and 5 victory over American Danielle Kang.

But third-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand suffered a shock defeat, falling 6 and 4 to Australian world No. 140 Hira Naveed — who made it into the field as the first alternate.