Baltacha bows out

[Reprint from Skysports]

British No.1 Elena Baltacha bowed out of the ASB Classic after losing in straight sets to fourth seed Flavia Pennetta.

Baltacha had begun 2012 in positive fashion with victory over New Zealand's Sacha Jones in the first round in Auckland on Monday, but world No.20 Pennetta proved too strong.

Pennetta gained the upper hand by converting her one break point in the first set before overcoming a rain delay on set point to clinch the opener.

The Italian then turned the screw in the second set to secure a comfortable 6-4 6-2 triumph.

Top seed Sabine Lisicki is also through but only after surviving a scare against fellow German Mona Barthel.

Lisicki held her nerve to seal her passage into the third round with a 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-3 victory.

Another all-German affair saw Angelique Kerber upset fifth-seeded Julia Goerges as she ran away with a 6-2 6-3 win.

There were also early exits for the seeded trio of Roberta Vinci, Monica Niculescu and Shuai Peng.

Sixth seed Vinci was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Elena Vesnina, Jie Zheng overcame the No.8 seed Monica Niculescu 6-0 6-2 and Lucie Hradecka upset the No.2-ranked Peng 6-4 6-3.

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