Battling Baltacha bows out

The British number three, ranked 111 places below the world number 23, had the better of her opponent in the first set but Mauresmo's experience told in the end as she secured a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win in two hours 13 minutes.

Mauresmo will now take on 13th seed Victoria Azarenka, who advanced to the third round when Tathiana Garbin retired in the first set.

Baltacha, who had been hoping to equal her best ever performance in Melbourne by reaching the third round, was prepared to get into long rallies and force the errors from Mauresmo which came at regular intervals in the first set. She was also not afraid to mix things up either, enticing Mauresmo to the net to set her up for some smartly-taken passing shots.

Both players struggled with their serves in the windy conditions and there were five breaks of serve in the opening set alone.

Mauresmo was the first to gain the advantage in the third game when Baltacha, looking for winners, was slightly off target - but the Ukraine-born Brit responded well to break back immediately then hold her next service game before Mauresmo double-faulted to hand Baltacha a 4-2 lead. That became 5-2 as Baltacha staved off three break points before firing a crosscourt winner.

Mauresmo held serve for 5-3 and broke Baltacha again to get back to 5-4, but the 25-year-old turned up the heat on the 2006 champion and an audacious backhand slice earned her the break and the first set.

Mauresmo got the early advantage in the second set, breaking the British woman in the first game, and she closed out the set with another break in the ninth game.

There was a 10-minute break prior to the start of the final set, with the women's heat rule invoked before the start of the day's play, and the extra time appeared to work in Baltacha's favour as she broke Mauresmo in the first game.

It was short-lived, though, as the Frenchwoman broke back in the fourth game to level things at 2-2 and then broke her twice more on the way to wrapping up the match.