Baltacha loses to Goerges at Indian Wells

ELENA Baltacha was knocked out of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells last night as Julia Goerges saw the Scot off in straight sets.

Goerges, the tournament’s 14th seed, proved too strong for Baltacha, and eased through the second round tie 6-3, 6-2. In earlier first round ties, Australian Jelena Dokic retired with a wrist injury after losing the first game of her clash with Argentina’s Gisela Dulko. Hungary’s Greta Arn also retired, due to a neck injury, when trailing Sweden’s Johanna Larsson.

American Robby Ginepri battled from a set down to go through to the second round of the men’s tournament, at the expense of Italian qualifier Paolo Lorenzi.

Ginepri will face 23rd seed Stanislas Wawrinka in round two after overcoming Lorenzi 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev saw off South Africa’s Rik De Voest 6-1, 6-4 to set up a meeting with world number one Novak Djokovic.

Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez will meet fourth-seeded Andy Murray in the second round after beating Portugal’s Rui Machado 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-2.