. Carlota Ciganda and Linn Grant, the only golfers to have scored three points so far, are becoming indispensable figures for the European team.

Europe has seriously chipped away at the resistance of the United States with one day remaining in the Solheim Cup, placing the partial score at an 8-point tie that generates all kinds of expectations.

The European team is heading towards what would be another milestone in the history of the Solheim Cup: their third consecutive victory after those achieved in the 2019 and 2021 editions, a succession of successes never achieved until now.

On Saturday morning, the containment of that North American push, so evident during Friday morning's round, was completed, reflected then in an unappealable 0-4 in the partial score that set off all the alarms.

Such an imbalance did not, however, discourage European captain Suzann Pettersen from keeping three of the four pairs who lost their matches the day before, limiting the changes needed to contain a possible new hemorrhage to the presence of Carlota Ciganda, alongside the Dane Emily Pedersen, in the first of the duels.

The intention was for both matches to act as a catalyst in clashes that were presumed to be vital to the tournament's outcome. The strategy proved only partially successful, given the partial result, a 2-2 tie, which served to maintain expectations for the afternoon's Fourballs.

The best thing, what was beginning to take shape with increasing intensity, was the leadership role of Carlota Ciganda, excellently in sync with Emily Pedersen, who achieved a contagious victory that allowed them from that moment on to act as cheerleaders for their teammates, as cheerleaders in the stands, that fundamental external role to turn the Solheim Cup into a real party and to give the European team an extra point of necessary motivation.

The afternoon session began with the score at 5-7, a crucial moment for defining expectations heading into the final round of twelve singles matches. The atmosphere was heating up; the possibility of an upset was palpable. This European initiative, after a day and a half of play, became a reality when Carlota Ciganda sank a spectacular birdie on the 6th hole, a moment enthusiastically celebrated by her partner, Linn Grant.

The action generated, for the first time since the start of the competition, the first European advantage in the overall score, 8.5 to 7.5 certified with a huge ovation from the stands.

There was still half the world to go before the day's conclusion, but everything was working perfectly. Charlie Hull and Leona Maguire were crushing Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing, while the other three matches showed narrow but significant victories, two of them in favor of Europe.

The European side followed one another with excellent shots from the tees, and those approaching the green before completing with accurate putts, leaving the Americans bewildered, who were trying to cope as best they could with their rival's impressive performance.

Birdie after birdie from Pedersen – up to 8 in a wonderful match –, birdie after birdie in the duel of Carlota Ciganda, where twenty-one were scored between the four players, the confrontation between Europeans and North Americans reached its highest levels of spectacle.

After two days of competition, both teams have a date with glory. Sixteen matches in between, dozens and dozens of twists and turns and prodigious shots later, everything is as it was at the beginning, tied on the scoreboard, twelve singles matches on the horizon and Carlota Ciganda, as one of the undisputed leaders, proclaiming to the four winds, "Come on, come on girls!"