Baltacha will take on French Open champion Schiavone in round two

British number one Elena Baltacha battled past Turkish wildcard Cagla Buyukakcay in two hard-fought sets to reach round two of the Istanbul Cup.

The Scot, ranked 59th, needed two hours and eight minutes to beat world number 196 Buyukakcay 7-5 7-6 (7-4).

Baltacha goes on to face French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.

The Italian earlier completed a rain-interrupted 6-2 6-2 win over Britain's Anne Keothavong, having resumed at 4-0 after play was halted on Monday.

Among the other winners on Tuesday were third seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and fifth seed Tsvetana Pironkova,conqueror of Venus Williams on her way to the Wimbledon semi-finals earlier this month.

In a way I'm glad I had a tough match because I have Schiavone next Elena Baltacha

Baltacha survived a serious test in hot and humid conditions against Buyukakcay, with the 26-year-old Briton battling back from a break down three times before edging the first set.

She fell behind again early in the second but looked to have done enough when she served for the match at 5-4, only to be broken once again.

It came down to a tie-break and Baltacha took the initiative, overcoming two point penalties for time and a double-fault on her first match point to finally wrap up the win.

"The point penalties for time were tough, especially in the tie-break," said Baltacha.

"I felt it was a bit unfair, it was 1-1 and I was literally just about to serve and she (the umpire) called another point penalty. That's the kind of thing that will test you and I managed to stay focused and reacted well."

She added: "In a way I'm glad I had a tough match because I have Schiavone next, who is obviously going to be difficult, so she pushed me but I reacted well and it was a really good first round match.

"I'm very excited to play Schiavone, another top-10 player. It's going to be difficult with the conditions, with the balls and the courts, it's going to be to her advantage but I'm gutsy and I've got nothing to lose.

"On paper, she's the one that should beat me so I have everything to gain. I'm really looking forward to it."

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