SHANGHAI, Dec 1, 2012 (AFP) - China took the lead after winning the fourball round 4-2 on Friday and tying Saturday's foursomes 3-3, ahead of the final round of 12 singles matches Sunday.
"It could have been much better," said Asia-Pacific team captain Peter Thomson, the legendary Australian five-time Open Championship winner.
"At least we didn't lose any ground, and there is a lot to play for tomorrow. It should be a great day."
The visitors led in all six matches at one point, but unforced errors rather than a Team China fightback allowed the home team to get some red on the scoreboard.
Rory Hie and Choo Tze Huang were the worst culprits. Three up at 12, they were beaten one-up by China's Zhang Lianwei and Yuan Hao after scoring two double bogeys and a bogey in the home stretch.
Andre Stolz and Michael Long will also be looking to make amends in Sunday's singles. After leading by two at the eighth, they lost seven in-a-row to Zhang Xinjun and Wu Kangchun to go down 5 and 3.
"I never thought our players could come back," said China vice-captain Cheng Jun. "After the first nine holes all the live scores were blue -- but they did it."
Asia-Pacific vice-captain Scott Laycock, who partnered Mark Brown to a 3 and 2 victory against Wu Weihuang and Zhou Guowu, said he expected a close result.
"None of us like to lose -- I hate losing -- and this is the message we will be thinking about tonight," he said.
"It isn't over by a long shot."
The Asia-Pacific side triumphed 12 1/2 to 11 1/2 on a gripping final day of singles in the inaugural OneAsia event last year after the teams were level 3-3 following the fourball matches and 6-6 following the foursomes.