• Sony Ericsson Open

Baltacha too strong for Ditty in qualifying

Elena Baltacha's form has been impressive in the early months of the year © Getty Images

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Elena Baltacha climbed to a career high world ranking of 62 on the back of her exploits at Indian Wells and she carried the momentum into Sony Ericsson qualifying with a 6-4 6-4 win over Julie Ditty.

Early breaks of serve were traded, before Baltacha secured a second break in the ninth game which set her on her way to the opening set. Ditty secured a break of serve in the second set, but it was not enough to knock Baltacha from her stride as two breaks of serve enabled her to wrap up the match after an hour and 24 minutes of play. Baltacha will now face Yung-jan Chan in the second round of qualifying.

Katie O'Brien capped a great day for the British women in qualifying as she battled back from a set down to beat American Christina McHale 3-6 6-2 6-3 and she will now face Michaela Krajicek.

In men's qualifying, fourth seed Marcos Daniel breezed past Jack Sock with a ferocious service performance. Daniel was accurate with 94% of his first deliveries in his 7-6(1) 6-0 victory.

Xavier Malisse, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2002, made hard work of world No. 145 Michael Yani during his 7-6(2) 6-2 triumph. Nicolas Massu was another who made life difficult for himself, losing the first set in his 6-7(4) 6-4 6-1 victory over Lukas Rosol.

Elsewhere, Rainer Schuettler beat Di Wu 6-1 6-4.

In women's qualifying, fifth seed Tamarine Tanasugarn had to dig deep to get past Masa Zec Peskiric. Although Tanasugarn regularly secured breaks of her opponent's serve - five in all - she found it hard to see out her own service games as she struggled to a 3-6 7-5 6-2 win.

Kirsten Flipkens also needed three sets to overcome Lilia Osterloh in an energy-sapping match that clocked in at a shade under two hours. The Belgian won 3-6 6-3 6-2 as her veteran opponent began to tire in the deciding set.

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