Baltacha halted in Indian Wells
Date published :
14 Mar 2010 - 21:32:56
Britain's Elena Baltacha lost to Australian Alicia Molik in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in California.Qualifier Baltacha, who claimed her first win over a top-10 ranked player with victory over Li Na in round two, succumbed 6-0 6-2 to wildcard Molik.
The Australian number five, ranked 138th in the world, took 56 minutes to see off the British number one.
Molik will play either China's Zheng Jie or Maria Sharapova of Russia.
Baltacha, the world number 65, recorded a first-serve percentage of 33% in the first set as Molik converted all three break points on offer.
The Briton fell two breaks down early in the second set before eventually holding serve twice but Molik strolled to the win.
In other matches, Poland's fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-1 6-0, while France's 11th seed Marion Bartoli beat Jill Craybas of the USA 6-2 6-0.
