Baltacha downs Li Na to march on at Indian Wells

GREAT Britain's Elena Baltacha sprung a major surprise to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California by downing seventh seed Li Na of China.

MAJOR SHOCK: Elena Baltacha upsets the odds to see off seventh seed Li Na at Indian Wells (Getty Images)

Baltacha, who was forced to come through qualifying for the event, came out on top in a marathon match that last almost three hours before prevailing 7-6 (8), 2-6, 7-6 (7) over the Australian Open semi finalist.

The 26-year-old Ukrainian-born Scot was on the brink of elimination in the third-set tie-break and trailed 5-1 but she roared back to capture a first victory over a top-ten opponent.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," said Baltacha, who is ranked 65th in the world and will now face Australian wildcard Alicia Molik.

"As the tie-break started, she just came out with unbelievable stuff but I went into the zone and just fought my heart out.

"I think sometimes with the top players, the best time to play them is when they play their first match and that was the case with Li."

Elsewhere, former world number one and 2010 Australian Open runner-up Justine Henin was sent crashing by Argentina's Gisela Dulko in California.

Dulko came out on top 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 against the Belgian, who came out of a 19-month retirement at the start of the year.

Meanwhile, second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark survived a scare to see of the USA's Vania King 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 while fourth seed Elena Dementieva also required three sets to down Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

In the men's event, Italy's Andreas Seppi beat American Robby Ginepri 2-6, 7-6, (5) 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with Britain's Andy Murray.