Michelle Larcher de Brito

Elena Baltacha lasted only seven games of her opening match at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham but Anne Keothavong reached the second round with a battling performance.

British number one Baltacha continued her good form in 2010 by winning the ITF title in Nottingham last week but it came at a cost as she was laid low by heatstroke.

Baltacha admitted earlier in the week she was struggling to recover and she called it a day after losing the first set 6-1 to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.

Anne Keothavong welcomed her improvement as she battled past Pauline Parmentier in the AEGON Classic in Birmingham on Wednesday - but there was misery for British number one Elena Baltacha.

The Scot continued her good form in 2010 by winning the ITF title in Nottingham last week but it came at a cost as she was laid low by heatstroke.

Baltacha admitted earlier in the week she was struggling to recover and she called it a day after losing the first set 6-1 to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.

The British weather held up its end of the bargain at the $220,000 AEGON Classic on Monday, allowing all 17 opening round matches on the schedule to be played.

The sole seed to fall on the grass of the Edgbaston Priory Club was No.11 Melinda Czink, who held a set point at 5-4 in the first set of her match against Marina Erakovic but let the Kiwi claw her way back for a 75 64 win.

India's Sania Mirza made a winning return to action after her wedding to Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik as she defeated Chan Yung-Jan 6-1, 6-4 in the first round in Birmingham on Monday.

Mirza had taken several months off from tennis to focus on her personal life before controversially marrying Malik in April.

The tense nature of relations between India and Pakistan meant political groups in her homeland protested against the 23-year-old's decision to marry Malik.

Romanian second seed Sorana Cirstea reached the quarterfinals of the WTA Tournament in Estoril, Portugal, over local teenaged Michelle Larcher de Brito 7-5, 7-5.

Fourth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain ousted Russian Elena Makarova 6-2, 6-3.

China's seventh seed Peng Shuai reached the last eight with a defeat of German Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-1.