The second-seeded Russian, who is seeking to become the second woman to win consecutive titles in the past decade, cruised through her opening match and will be a huge favourite against Dellacqua, the world number 90.

• Images from day 3 | Coverage

"It's kind of weird playing opponents you haven't played against," Sharapova said.

"I know she is a lefty and I've seen her play a little bit on some of the matches on TV. I haven't seen too much to know really what she does well and not. So I think it's just going to be up to me to figure it out as soon as I can."

In the men's event, Americans Andy Roddick [ Images ] and James Blake [ Images ] are both in second-round action.

Fifth seed Roddick, the champion in 2003, takes on Argentine Jose Acasuso, while sixth seed Blake, a quarter-finalist in each of the past two years, plays Frenchman Fabrice Santoro [ Images ] after Sharapova's match in the night session.

Former champions Svetlana Kuznetosva, the fourth seed, and Martina Hingis [ Images ], seeded 16, play second-round matches, while men's fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko [ Images ] faces a tough test against German Nicolas Kiefer [ Images ].