 Baltacha is attempting to qualify for the second year running |
Britain's Elena Baltacha got her attempt to qualify for the Australian Open off to a confident start with a 7-5 6-4 win over Romanian Anda Perianu. The 22-year-old, seeded seventh, must now beat China's Meng Yuan and win one more match to reach the main draw.
Baltacha, the world number 122, will see her ranking slide unless she can match last year's third-round run.
Anne Keothavong also won her opening qualifying match in Melbourne, but all five British men are out.
Arvind Parmar, James Auckland, Jamie Delgado, Richard Bloomfield and Jonathan Marray all lost.
 |  I'm still less than 80% fit and didn't feel great out there |
Parmar was the closest to progressing, falling 8-6 in the third set to French fourth seed Gilles Simon, but his fellow Britons failed to win a set between them.
That leaves Andy Murray and Tim Henman as Britain's only representatives in the men's tournament.
British number two Greg Rusedski has opted out as he is awaiting the birth of his first child.
Baltacha has been suffering from flu and admitted she was not at her best against Perianu.
"I'm still less than 80% fit and didn't feel great out there," she said.
"In the second set my legs felt like jelly but I told myself to keep going and to get a win like this is very satisfying."
MMIX
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