Baltacha was two points from victory late in the final set

Britons Elena Baltacha, Melanie South and Naomi Cavaday were beaten at the Aegon Classic grass-court event in Birmingham on Thursday.

In round two, Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 17, beat Baltacha 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3), and China's Jie Zheng defeated South 6-3 6-1.

Cavaday lost 6-4 6-2 to Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele in the third round.

Maria Sharapova beat both Alexa Glatch and Francesca Schiavone after schedule delays meant some players played twice.

The former world number one needed just one game to complete a delayed 6-3 6-4 win over Glatch, and then raced past seventh seed Schiavone 6-1 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

"It's never easy, but everyone has to deal with these situations," Sharapova said of the rain delay. "It's tricky, but I'm glad I could make it."

I am very proud of my performances this week and can only take away the positives Naomi Cavaday

The Russian next faces Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, who saw off 14th seed Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-4 after earlier defeating Michaella Krajicek 6-2 6-4.

Pavlyuchenkova's run ended in round three against Sania Mirza, with the Indian player coming through 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2.

Mirza next faces 16th seed Melinda Czink of Hungary, who beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and then third seed Aleksandra Wozniak 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 7-5.

Poland's Urszula Radwanska defeated Julia Goerges of Germany 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

Baltacha lost a desperately close encounter against fifth seed and world number 31, Pavlyuchenkova, that was briefly interrupted by rain.

"I'm disappointed with the loss," the Scot told the tournament's website. "I did have quite a few opportunities in the match but I think I've got to be positive. On paper, I wasn't favourite to win but I managed to stay in there with her and play some really good tennis."

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Cavaday had enjoyed a fine win over 12th seed Tamarine Tanasugarn on Wednesday but could not repeat the feat against Voegele, the world number 99.

"Today was tough," said Cavaday. "She was quick out of the blocks and put pressure on me from the very beginning with her depth.

"It was really difficult to get into a rhythm today as she was taking the ball so early, but she is a very good grass-court player and that made the difference.

"Despite it all, I am very proud of my performances this week and can only take away the positives."

South was unable to threaten world number 16, Zheng, losing in just over an hour.

"Obviously I knew I had a chance going into this match as I have already played five matches on grass over the last two weeks and this was her first one, but she is 16 in the world for a reason and she proved it today" said the Briton.

"I had chances at times, but she just kept putting pressure on me for the whole match. It's exciting though as now I know what to go back and work on and come back stronger next time."

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