Lorena Ochoa chips onto the 18th green in Friday's suspended second round. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Foul weather forced the suspension of the second round of the Canadian Women's Open on Friday afternoon.

Defending champion Lorena Ochoa, the world's top-ranked golfer, shot a 4-under par 68 — and leads the field at 10-under 134 at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club.

Heavy rain and hail suspended play with 75 players still on the course.

They will complete their rounds Saturday morning.

Ochoa began the day with a one-stroke lead on Annika Sorenstam and, though the Mexican hit her tee-shot on the 15th hole into a bunker and settled for bogey, she finished strong with birdies on three of the last five holes.

"You should never feel too confident," said Ochoa, who is seeking her seventh LPGA win this season.

"Anybody can win. But I like to play in the last group.

"I like to play on Sundays to give myself a chance to win the tournament. This has been a good year so far and, hopefully, we can continue with a win."

Katherine Hull moved into contention with eight birdies as she tied the course-record of 7-under 65 set by Open winner Martha Nause in 1994.

"On the back nine, my caddie [Mike Powell] and I were reciting Bible verses and I just lost track of what score I was at," said Hull, a devout Australian.

"I saw her, yes," Ochoa admitted. "I looked at the scoreboard.

"It was important to make a few birdies to put my name up there. I'm glad everything went well."

Lurking is Yani Tseng of Taiwan, winner of the LPGA Championship.

Yani is 8-under through 10 holes, having shot 5-under 31 on the front nine and sinking a birdie putt on No. 10 before play was suspended.

Nicole Castrale of the United States finished with a 69 to move 7-under, while Se Ri Pak of South Korea closed to 6-under following a 70.

"They don't hand out the trophy after the second day," Castrale said. "Lorena is obviously the No. 1 player in the world.

"I'm a couple of shots back, but I cannot try to beat Lorena. I'm trying to execute the best golf shots I can and we will see what happens."

Michelle Wie, the teenage sensation from the U.S., shot 70 and is one-over for the tournament.

"I felt a lot more confident with my putter," she said. "I had a lot of great up-and-downs today.

"There were a few holes where it could have gone either way and I just grinded it through. I'm proud of myself for shooting under par today and it sets me up for Saturday and Sunday."

Sharp, Kane likely to make cut

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., carded a 1-over 73 before play was halted at 3:45 p.m. ET.

Sharp is tied with three other golfers at even-par 144, 10 strokes back of Ochoa.

"The two hardest days are over with now," Sharp said. "Now I can just go play golf on the weekend.

"It is stressful being a Canadian and trying to make the cut up here. This is only my second cut made in, I don't know how many years I have played in this tournament, so I'm happy to be playing on the weekend."

Charlottetown's Lorie Kane struggled with her putter, but she still managed to match Sharp's round of 1-over 73 and sits at 3-over 147 heading into Saturday.

The last Canadian to win the tournament was Jocelyne Bourassa in 1973.

With files from the Canadian Press