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Baltacha progresses in Strasbourg

Elena Baltacha was too strong for Sorana Cirstea © Getty Images

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Elena Baltacha booked her place in the second round of the Strasbourg International with a 6-3 7-5 win over Sorana Cirstea.

The British No. 1 has been in fine form this year and proved clay holds no terrors with a confident win over her Romanian opponent.

Baltacha put the pressure on early in the match and a double fault from Cirstea handed the Brit a break of serve. Baltacha failed to ram home the advantage as she handed the break back with a double fault of her own.

The setback did not knock Baaltacha's confidence as she broke again in the seventh game and went on to claim the opening set.

A quick victory looked on the cards when Baltacha broke at the start of the second set, but Cirstea hit back with successive breaks of her own.

However, Baltacha rallied to dominate from the baseline and despite squandering three match points in the 10th game, wrapped up victory in an hour and 48 minutes.

"That was the best I've ever felt on clay," Baltacha said. "I wasn't sure how I'd take to the clay here, because it's very wet and slow, and to hit a winner you have to really pelt it. My coach told me before the match to play like I was on a hard court and that's what I did - I really took it to her."

Virginie Razzano was forced to battle for her place in the second round, with the No. 3 seed securing a 6-3 3-6 6-4 win over Kai-chen Chang.

Sybille Bammer dug deep to claim a 2-6 6-4 7-5 win over Pauline Parmentier, while Anabel Medina Garrigues dropped just one game in beating Sandra Zahlavova 6-1 6-0.

In the Warsaw Open, the third seed Na Li was given a stiff examination in the first set by Ioana Raluca Olaru before triumphing 7-6(4) 6-0 to set up a clash with Katarzyna Piter in the second round.

The No. 4 seed Marion Bartoli's French Open preparations met with a setback as she was sent tumbling out 4-6 6-1 6-2 by Klara Zakopalova.

Melanie Oudin was another seed to tumble, with the American slipping to a 6-0 6-2 defeat to Magdalena Rybarikova, while fifth seed Jie Zheng battled to a 6-1 5-7 7-5 win over Olga Govortsova.

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