Baltacha delight at top 50 spot

(GETTY IMAGES)

Elena Baltacha has broken into the world's top 50 for the first time after reaching the second round of the US Open.

The 27-year-old Briton beat Petra Martic to claim her first main-draw victory in New York before losing a close match against 27th seed Petra Kvitova. Baltacha's reward is a rise of eight places in the rankings to 49th.

"It's unbelievable," she said. "At the beginning of the year my goal was to stay in the top 100. I can still get better and I don't think that I've topped out yet. The next goal is the top 40.