Melissa Reid produced a six-under-par 66 to end the opening round of the Evian Masters in a tie for the lead with Morgan Pressel and Ahn Sun-ju.

The 22-year-old Derbyshire player fired eight birdies and two bogeys on the Evian Masters Golf Course to finish ahead of an elite field featuring 24 of the world's top 25 players.

Reid made the most of the benign morning conditions to fire three straight birdies from the fifth hole. She dropped a shot at the eighth but recovered at the ninth for an outward total of 33, three under par.

Further birdies at the 10th, 12th and 13th gave her the edge over Pressel, the 2007 Kraft Nabisco champion, but she fell back with a dropped shot at the 16th.

She regained a share of the lead with a birdie at the par-five 18th hole for an inward total of 33.

"I hit the fairways, hit the greens, hit my zones I wanted to hit, and then just rolled in a few good putts," Reid said, adding the key was her improved putting.

"I've been working the last couple of weeks with my coach, David Ridley. I've been working quite closely on my putting, because he thinks that's a weakness in my game. So we've changed the posture a little bit, and I seem to be rolling the ball a lot nicer this week."

Pressel returned seven birdies and a solitary bogey in her 66 while Ahn hit six birdies, two bogeys and an eagle.

Ahn's compatriot Kim Song-hee was one shot behind alongside Japan's MJ Hur while Michelle Wie was in a seven-way tie for sixth with a four-under-par 68.

Scot Catriona Matthew was the next Briton with a two-under-par 70 seeing her into equal 26th.

Collated first-round scores (Par 72):

66 Morgan Pressel (USA), Melissa Reid (Eng), Sun Ju Ahn (Kor)

67 M. J. Hur (Kor), Song-Hee Kim (Kor)

68 Jeong Jang (Kor), Meena Lee (Kor), Yani Tseng (Tpe), Mika Miyazato (Jpn), Michelle Wie (USA), Mi Jeong Jeon (Kor), Na Yeon Choi (Kor)

69 Momoko Ueda (Jpn), Sun Young Yoo (Kor), Pat Hurst (USA), Ai Miyazato (Jpn), Alexis Thompson (USA), Gwladys Nocera (Fra), Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa), Anja Monke (Ger), Mayu Hattori (Jpn), Yukari Baba (Jpn), Haeji Kang (Kor), Suzann Pettersen (Nor), Angela Stanford (USA)

70 Kyeong Bae (Kor), Lindsey Wright (Aus), Catriona Matthew (Sco), Anna Nordqvist (Swe), Vicky Hurst (USA), Jiyai Shin (Kor), Diana Luna (Ita), Azahara Munoz Guijarro (Spa), Brittany Lincicome (USA), Shanshan Feng (Chn), Smriti Mehra (Ind)

71 Marianne Skarpnord (Nor), In Kyung Kim (Kor), Stacy Prammanasudh (USA), Alena Sharp (Can), Helen Alfredsson (Swe), Paula Creamer (USA), Miki Saiki (Jpn), Giulia Sergas (Ita), Florentyna Parker (Eng), Candie Kung (Tai), Kristy Mcpherson (USA), Maria Hjorth (Swe), Karen Stupples (Eng), Juli Inkster (USA), Akane Iijima (Jpn)

72 Beatriz Recari (Spa), Laura Diaz (USA), Cristie Kerr (USA), Chie Arimura (Jpn), Sophie Gustafson (Swe), Amy Yang (Kor), Karine Icher (Fra), Yuri Fudo (Jpn), Sakura Yokomine (Jpn)

73 Teresa Lu (Tpe), Rui Kitada (Jpn), Meaghan Francella (USA), Stacy Lewis (USA), Jimin Kang (Kor), Amanda Blumenherst (USA), Natalie Gulbis (USA), Tamie Durdin (Aus), Maria Hernandez (Spa), Felicity Johnson (Eng), Rikako Morita (Jpn), Hee Won Han (Kor), Wendy Ward (USA), Karrie Webb (Aus), Linda Wessberg (Swe), Soo-Yun Kang (Kor)

74 Kaori Aoyoma (Jpn), Seon Hwa Lee (Kor), Christina Kim (USA), Yoshimi Koda (Jpn), Miho Koga (Jpn), Janice Moodie (Sco), Amy Hung (Tai), Shi Hyun Ahn (Kor), Ji Young Oh (Kor), In-Bee Park (Kor), Hee Young Park (Kor), Asako Fujimoto (Jpn)

75 Karen Lunn (Aus), Hee-Kyung Seo (Kor), Mariajo Uribe (Col), Hyun-Ji Kim (Kor), Eun Hee Ji (Kor), Sherri Steinhauer (USA), Maria Verchenova (Rus), Ran Hong (Kor)

76 Trish Johnson (Eng), Ayako Uehara (Jpn), Iben Tinning (Den), Bo-Mee Lee (Kor), Jee Young Lee (Kor), Katherine Hull (Aus), Eunjang Yi (Kor), Brittany Lang (USA), Virginie Lagoutte-Clement (Fra), Bo Mi Suh (Kor)

77 Nicole Gergely (Aut)

78 Sandra Gal (Ger)

80 Kristie Smith (Aus), Caroline Rominger (Swi)

81 Laura Davies (Eng)