Elena Baltacha falls to heavy defeat in Auckland

BRITISH No1 Elena Baltacha went down to a 6-2, 6-2 defeat against Ioana Raluca Olaru in the first round of the ASB Classic in Auckland.

The 26-year-old had come through qualifying by defeating Canada's Stephanie Dubois, but she was no match for her Romanian opponent who is ranked just 12 places ahead of the Briton at world No72.

Although Baltacha had more success with her first serve, she was unable to convert that into winning points. She had little joy on her return of serve and was comprehensively outplayed by Olaru.

Top seed Kim Clijsters cruised into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International with a crushing win over Alicia Molik.

Clijsters, who came out of retirement last year to win the US Open, crushed Australian Molik – also on the comeback trail after taking a break from the game – 6-0, 6-3 in an hour.

Seventh seed Melinda Czink is also through after beating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, while American Vania King lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to Andrea Petkovic.

Former world No1 Ana Ivanovic survived a tough three-setter against Timea Bacsinszky. The Serbian dropped the second set, but prevailed 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.