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Baltacha bows out in Auckland

Elena Baltacha fought valiantly in New Zealand © Getty Images

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• Profile: Elena Baltacha | Julia Goerges | Jelena Jankovic | Kaia Kanepi | Svetlana Kuznetsova | Sabine Lisicki | Sam Stosur | Yanina Wickmayer | Serena Williams

Elena Baltacha suffered a straight-sets loss to Flavia Pennetta in the second round of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.

The British No. 1 was sent tumbling out of the tournament by the fourth seed after a rain delay halted play at the end of the opening set. Pennetta went on to edge Baltacha 6-4 6-2, losing just five points on her first serve throughout the match.

Baltacha was unable to capitalise on Pennetta's four double faults as she struggled to regain her composure after the loss of the tight first set. Pennetta will now take on Elena Vesnina, who battled past sixth seed Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-4.

Top seed Sabine Lisicki was forced into a third set by compatriot Mona Barthel before claiming the match 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3. Lisicki proved too strong in the end, but both players were guilty of a litany of errors, including seven double faults each.

Angelique Kerber upset fellow German Julia Goerges 6-2 6-3. The left-hander took just one hour to complete the win and will now face Lisicki in the third round.

Third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had no problems against Christina McHale, romping to a 6-1 6-1 triumph in a little over an hour but second seed Shuai Peng failed to join her in the next round as she fell 6-4 6-3 against Lucie Hradecka. And Yanina Wickmayer and Roberta Vinci fell to shock defeats to Sara Errani and Elena Vesnina respectively.

Elsewhere, at the Brisbane International, US Open champion Sam Stosur was knocked out in the second round, going down to Iveta Benesova 6-4 6-2. In an earlier upset, seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was humbled by Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-0 6-3.

Serena Williams continued her comeback with a comfortable 6-2 6-4 win over Bojana Jovanovski. The former world No. 1 twisted her ankle during the match, but pushed through the pain as the prospect of a blockbuster semi-final against Kim Clijsters looms.

Sixth seed Jelena Jankovic swept aside Russian qualifier Nina Bratchikova 6-3 6-2, and next up for the Serb is No. 3 seed Francesca Schiavone.

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