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Rain aids Baltacha's cause

Alexandra Dulgheru won her opening match in Tashkent © Getty Images

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Britain's Elena Baltacha will have an extra day's rest after heavy rain washed out play at the Korea Open.

With the British No. 1 winning her first-round match against local favourite So-Jung Kim on Monday, she awaits the victor of the clash between Polona Hercog and Agnes Szavay.

Hercog and Szavay were set to do battle on Tuesday, but after heavy rain forced organisers to postpone the day's play, Baltacha will have the advantage of two days' rest over her opponent. Former world No. 1s Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic take on Simona Halep and Vera Dushevina in their respective opening-round ties on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at the Tashkent Open, top seed Alexandra Dulgheru was well off her game but nevertheless made progress into the second round.

Dulgheru dropped her serve five times as she failed with more than half of her first serves, but notched up a 6-2 7-5 victory over Kurumi Nara by virtue of the fact she managed eight breaks of her own.

Fifth seed Monica Niculescu needed three sets to beat Kazakh wildcard Zarina Diyas 3-6 6-7(2) 6-2, while No. 6 seed Magdalena Rybarikova ended local favourite Sabina Sharipova's hopes of a dream run in her home event.

The 16-year-old Uzbek wildcard, ranked No. 400 in the world, converted all three of her break point opportunities, but was broken six times herself as she fell 6-3 6-3 to a player ranked more than 300 places above her.

Just two days after her final defeat to Jarmila Groth at the Guangzhou International, Alla Kudryavtseva was back in action, beating Yuliana Fedak 6-4 6-1. There were also wins for Maria Elena Camerin, Anna Chakvetadze and Jill Craybas.

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