Elena Baltacha admits she is struggling to find her feet on the hard courts after such a successful summer on grass.

The 25-year old Scot was the only British woman to win through her first round at Wimbledon this year, defeating world number 33 Alona Bondarenko.

But after taking two weeks off the British number four has been unable to reproduce that form on the American hard courts.

The fiery Scot has lost in the first qualifying round in Stanford and LA despite having match points in both matches and with the US Open looming large at the end of August, Baltacha will need to pick her game up.

“Coming off such a good grass season I was very confident,” said Baltacha.

“But I had a little bit of a break after Wimbledon and I'm still in that kind of transitional stage - getting into the hard season and competing.

“It's been a bit disappointing to lose in the first round of qualifying but I knew coming out here that there was a possibility I might not win any matches.

“It's frustrating when you come to within one point of winning, but at least I've got myself into that position.”

Elsewhwre Linlithgow's Colin Fleming and partner Ken Skupski crashed out of the Vancouver Open at the quarter-final stage.

The British pair fought back from a set down before being edged out in a tight champions tie-break to go down 6-3, 3-6, 11-9 to South African duo Kevin Anderson and Rik De Voest.

Fleming and Skupski have shown some impressive form this season with a win at the Granby Open last week taking them to the brink of the top 100 doubles rankings.

But with the final Grand Slam of the season, the US Open, looming large at the end of August, the Brits still have work to do to gain automatic qualification for Flushing Meadows.