US Open 2011: Elena Baltacha beaten by Svetlana Kuznetsova

British interest in the US Open women's singles came to an end as 15th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova proved too strong for Elena Baltacha in round two.

Baltacha made a flying start and moved into an early 3-0 lead but Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion, fought back to win 6-4 6-3 in one hour and 22 minutes.

The Russian showed the class that has won her two Grand Slam titles as she won 12 of the last 16 games.

Kuznetsova will play Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan next.

The defeat means the British contingent of four women in the main draw could not make it past the second round, with number one Baltacha coming up against an impressive opponent.

Baltacha, 28, has reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament only twice before and must have had high hopes when she dominated the opening exchanges, breaking serve immediately.

Kuznetsova has struggled to reach her major-winning heights in recent years and an upset seemed possible, but the 26-year-old found her focus on Court 11.

As she tightened up her game so Baltacha started to make errors, five games in a row taking the Russian to the verge of the first set before she served it out at the first attempt.

A break at the start of the second left Baltacha in deep trouble and the Scot did well to hang on, seeing off four break points from 0-40 down in game five.

But her resistance came to an end when serving to stay in the match, a double-fault handing Kuznetsova victory on her third match point.

"I started really well and then she got on her game and it was hard," said Baltacha.

"She had so much shape on the ball, far more than what I thought, and it drew me back. And she moved unbelievably. She had a very good match today and I did the best that I could.

"If I could go out and play her again, would I do anything different? Yes, I would. I think I'd be more aggressive and I'd make more of an effort to push myself back onto the baseline."

And Baltacha admitted that she had refused to shake umpire Arnaud Gabas's hand after the match as she was unimpressed by some of the calls.

"I wasn't too happy," said the Briton. "I think there were a couple. It was the heat of the moment. I'm sure he's had that before. He's a big boy, he can take it."