• Scot to face American Alexa Glatch after straight-sets victory
• Boost for British tennis after that Davis Cup humiliation

Elena Baltacha provided some much-needed good news for British tennis by qualifying for the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The Davis Cup humiliation in Lithuania has provided plenty of unwanted headlines for the Lawn Tennis Association this week, but along with Andy Murray, Baltacha has been the main ray of light this year with her climb into the world’s top 65 and she continued that good form in qualifying.

The Scot beat Russia’s Ekaterina Bychkova 6-3, 6-4 to secure her main-draw spot and will face the American Alexa Glatch, a wildcard who is ranked almost 100 places below her, tonight for the right to play the seventh seed Li Na in the second round.

“It’s fantastic,” Baltacha said. “This year already it’s the third WTA event that I’ve qualified for so I’m really pleased.

“I’m looking forward to playing Glatch. I’ve never played here before but I’ve had two matches already on these courts and I’m ready to get another win.”

Anne Keothavong is also in the main draw courtesy of her protected ranking – the Londoner was in the top 50 before she suffered a serious knee injury last year – and will face the former top-10 star Anna Chakvetadze.

Murray is seeded fourth in the men’s event and has a bye into the second round, where he will meet either the American Robby Ginepri or Italy’s Andreas Seppi.