Australian Open 2012 live stream

Pre-match there was some confusion as to whom Casey Dellacqua would be playing tonight at Rod Laver Arena.

bet365 is live streaming all Australian Open 2010 games - Go to bet365 > Live Streaming > Tennis to watch a live stream

Was it Kristina Barrois (as one ill-informed journalist insisted) or someone else entirely? In fact, it was Karolina Sprem that Australian Open Wildcard Play-off winner Dellacqua faced off against, a woman she beat in three sets in their only previous meeting in Kolkata in 2006.

While Dellacqua might have been "not sure who I play," prior to tonight's second round, her memory rapidly returned once Dellacqua hit the court, the 24-year-old improving on that previous result with a 7-6(4) 7-6(6) victory over the world No.92, overhauling an 888-place ranking gap in the process.

The opener was a close-fought affair, Dellacqua failing to convert the only break point of the set but playing more consistently than her Croatian opponent both on serve and off the ground, serving at 57 per cent and converting 86 per cent of those serves into points won to take out the tie-break.

Games went with serve until the middle of the second set, when the women exchanged four consecutive breaks of serve. Twice Dellacqua took the lead only for nerves to paralyse her free-flowing strokes. The set reached five games apiece before Dellacqua again made the breakthrough, earning two break points with big, hay-making forehands and claiming the second of those when Sprem netted a forehand volley.

After a change-of-ends injury time-out for cramp in Sprem's left thigh, Dellacqua came out to serve for the match leading 6-5, groundstroke errors costing her two match points in that game and forcing the match to a tie-break. The women level-pegged until the middle of the breaker, Dellacqua believing she had earned a 5-3 lead off a Sprem backhand but finding herself at 4-4 after a video line-calling overrule.

Bravely, the West Australian weathered the storm, taking the match at her fourth opportunity, Sprem spraying a cross-court shot long to hand Dellacqua passage to the third round.

"I was shaking, I was nervous, trying to get a first serve in and trying to get that first ball in. I was so happy when that last ball (of Sprem's) went out," said Dellacqua, who reached the fourth round at Australian Open 2008.

"She played a great match and hit a lot of winners. I was just trying to hang in there do what I do well.

"I'm just so excited to be back playing because I had a great year last year, even though I didn't play on the circuit and had a bit of a normal life for a change, but it's so awesome to be back.

In winning through the one-hour, 58-minute match, Dellacqua joined fellow Aussies Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur in the third round. Next up she faces No.6 seed Venus Williams in a contest she's looking forward to. "That's just exciting,” she said. “It would be great to get back out here and play Venus, and I’ll just give it a good crack.”