Baltacha reaches final round of qualifying in Indian Wells

BRITISH number one Elena Baltacha battled through to the second round of qualifying at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

PLUCKY: British number one recovers from a set down against American teenager Julia Boserup to reach the final round of qualifying at Indian Wells (Getty Images)

The 26-year old, seeded first for in the qualifying draw in California, found herself on the ropes against 18-year old American wildcard Julia Boserup, before recovering to seal a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Baltacha is ranked at a career-high 65 in the world having lifted her biggest title to date in February at the Dow Corning Tennis Classic.

And the Scot insisted her recovery against Boserup was her best performance of the season.

"I'm very chuffed to get through today," Baltacha reported on Twitter.

"Wildcards are sometimes a pain to play and she was hitting like a top 20 player! But I felt that was my best performance so far this year. The match was unbelievable."

Baltacha will face Russia's world number 109 Ekaterina Bychkova on Tuesday for a place in the main draw.

Meanwhile, fellow Brit Anne Keothavong has been drawn against Russia's former world number five Anna Chakvetadze in the first round in Indian Wells.

The 26-year old reached the semi finals of the Cellular South Cup in Memphis last month and is looking to recover her ranking after returning from a six-month injury lay off in February.

Russia's world number three and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova is top seed in California with Serena Williams and Dinara Safina absent through injury.

The draw for the men's Masters 1000 tournament will take place on March 11 with the top four players in the world, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, all confirmed to play in California.