Beijing   -England's Matt Wallace took the sole lead at the halfway stage of the $3.2 million China Open on Friday as home hope Jin Daxing's fairytale challenge faltered badly.

Ranked a lowly 1,426 in the world, Jin was the shock leader after the first round at Topwin Golf and Country Club in Beijing with his eight-under-par 64 on Thursday.

But the 25-year-old Chinese failed to replicate those heroics in a wind-affected second round and tumbled to joint 22nd on the leaderboard with his error-blighted 76, five shots off new leader Wallace.

Wallace, who had been in a share of second overnight with the Italian Nino Bertasio, carded a battling two-under-par 70 to grab the outright lead.

He was one shot ahead on nine under from the pursuing trio of Spain's Nacho Elvira, Jason Scrivener of Australia and the American Shiwan Kim.

"I am playing nice golf so to be ahead with the tough conditions today is a nice feeling and I am going to bring that over to the weekend," Wallace told www.europeantour.com.

The world-ranked 107 is chasing his second European Tour title of the season and third overall.

Defending champion Alex Levy of France was tied for 50th place on two under, enough to survive the cut.