The lead seemed to change hands after every round in the third session of the Louis Vuitton Women's Pairs final. At the end of the session, Americans Jill Meyers and Shawn Quinn were narrowly ahead of Sabine Auken and Daniela von Arnim of Germany. Third were the Chinese pairing of Wenfei Wang and Yu Zhang.

Board 5. Dealer North. NS Game ª A 8 7 6 5 3 © A 6 3 ¨ Q 10 § J 6 ª K 4 ª J 10 © 9 8 5 4 © K 10 7 ¨ A ¨ K J 8 § A 10 8 7 4 2 § K Q 9 5 3 ª Q 9 2 © Q J 2 ¨ 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 § -

Bep Vriend found a nice bid on this deal. Gail Greenberg opened the North hand 1ª, Carla Arnolds overcalled 2§ and Sylvia Moss raised to 2ª. Vriend jumped to 3NT with her six-card club fit! Greenberg led a low spade against 3NT and Vriend won, cashed the ¨A and started on the clubs. When the ¨Q fell doubleton, she had an overtrick; +430 and 26 MPs out of 34.

Board 11. Dealer South. Love All ª 9 8 5 © 9 8 ¨ A 8 2 § 10 7 4 3 2 ª A Q 4 ª J 10 6 © Q 7 4 © A 10 6 3 ¨ J 10 6 ¨ K 5 3 § Q 9 6 5 § A J 8 ª K 7 3 2 © K J 5 2 ¨ Q 9 7 4 § K

Amalya Kearse made an innocent little reopening double and found that she was swimming in shark infested waters on this deal.

Once Kathie Wei-Sender had redoubled 1NT to show her maximum, Juanita Chambers was happy to double everything in sight. The music stopped in 2ª doubled and Chambers continued the good work by leading the ªJ. Jacqui Mitchell covered with the king and Wei-Sender won the ace then continued with a low spade to her partner's ten. Back came a third spade to the queen. Wei-Sender switched to a low club and Chambers won the ace and returned the §J, ruffed in dummy. Mitchell tried a low heart off the dummy now but Wei-Sender had seen that one before and went in with her queen. She cashed the §Q next before switching to the ¨J. That ran to the king and Chambers cashed the ace of hearts; three down for -500 and 33 MPs for Chambers/Wei-Sender.

Board 13. Dealer North. Game All ª A Q J 9 6 5 4 3 © Q 7 ¨ Q 10 6 § - ª K ª 10 7 © A J 10 5 3 © 6 4 ¨ J 5 ¨ 8 7 § A K 10 9 5 § Q J 7 6 4 3 2 ª 8 2 © K 9 8 2 ¨ A K 9 4 3 2 § 8

The hot pair of the session to date had been newly crowned Louis Vuitton McConnell Cup champions, Doris Fischer and Terry Weigkricht of Austria. On this one, Fischer opened 4¨, a good 4ª bid, and Weigkricht used Blackwood. Fischer's response to 4NT was 6§, showing one ace plus a club void. Weigkrichr bid 6ª and had no trouble making it after the lead of ace and another heart; +1430 and 33 MPs.

Board 14. Dealer East. Love All ª Q 9 6 © 6 3 ¨ 9 4 3 2 § K J 9 4 ª A J 7 4 ª 8 © Q 10 9 8 5 © A K J 7 4 ¨ K 8 ¨ A J 7 6 § 5 2 § A 7 6 ª K 10 5 3 2 © 2 ¨ Q 10 5 § Q 10 8 3

Jan Cormack and Liz Havas of Australia gained swift revenge by bidding a slam themselves on the very next board. Havas opened 1© as East and Cormack, formerly of New Zealand, raised to 4© over Weigkricht's 1ª overcall. Havas just jumped to 6©, ending the auction. She won the trump lead, drew the remaining trump and played king, ace and a third diamond, ruffing. When the queen came down, Havas had a discard for dummy's losing club and could take two club ruffs for +1010 and 27 MPs.

Board 18. Dealer East. NS Game ª 6 © K Q ¨ Q J 9 8 2 § A Q 10 6 4 ª K Q 8 ª A J 10 © A J 8 7 6 2 © 10 9 5 4 ¨ A 3 ¨ 7 6 5 § J 7 § 9 8 5 ª 9 7 5 4 3 2 © 3 ¨ K 10 4 § K 3 2 West North East South Weigkricht Yu Zhang Fischer Wenfei Pass Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2¨ 2© 2NT Pass 3ª All Pass

China's Zhang Yu and Wenfei Wang had suffered a bad opening session to the final but were storming through the field now. Their charge was temporarily halted by good Austrian defence on this deal.

2¨ showed a single-suited major hand. Whether 2NT was natural or intended to show the minors is unclear. If the latter, the message did not get across to Wang who converted to her threadbare spade suit.

Weigkricht led the ace and another heart to dummy's king. Wang pitched a diamond on the second heart then played a spade, won by the ten. Fischer switched to a diamond now and Weigkricht won the ace and returned a second diamond to declarer's king. Wang played a second trump and Fischer thought a little then worked it out and overtook her partner's queen with the ace to give her a diamond ruff. There was still the ªJ to come for two down; minus 200 and only 8 MPs for the Chinese pair.