Second seed Dinara Safina took less than an hour to end British number one Elena Baltacha's run at the Australian Open.

Elena Dementieva stretched her winning run to 12 matches as she booked her place in the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-4 6-1 win against Iveta Benesova.

British interest in the ladies’ singles was brought to a halt on Centre Court this afternoon as Jennifer Capriati cranked up her Wimbledon title challenge with a crushing straight-sets victory over Elena Baltacha.

JUSTIN HENIN-HARDENNE, the slim Belgian star with the biggest promise of ending the women’s power era at Wimbledon, fought through the pain of a hand injury to reach the second round against tall Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko.

Top British hope Elena Baltacha fought a gallant battle to take a set from fragile 11th seed Jelena Dokic but eventually went down 6-3 1-6 6-4 in an exciting 101-minute clash that had home fans on the edge of their seats and hopeful of an upset.

Women's Singles, Round 1

Elena Baltacha has been given the green light to compete at Wimbledon this summer after consulting a leading specialist about an on-going liver complaint.

Elena Baltacha has won the first professional title of her career after beating Irish number one Kelly Liggan to win the £16,000 (€25,000) tournament in Felixstowe.