Casey Dellacqua into round two and delighted about the forecast Casey Dellacqua was on, and off, before the worst heat of the day - and, particularly, the week - arrived. "Now I can go back and sit in the air con and have a massage and watch everyone else sweat it out," smiled the first Australian winner from among seven candidates on the Australian Open's first day. The score: 6-2, 6-2. The Open: Dellacqua's 11th, six years since she memorably reached the fourth round in what still counts as her best. The opponent: Vera Zvonareva, the former world No.2 playing just her second tournament in 18 months. A two-time grand slam finalist, Zvonareva missed all of 2013 with a shoulder injury. Dellacqua is another shoulder reconstruction survivor, who has also suffered a serious foot injury and other setbacks, but is into the second round of her home slam for just the fourth time. The trusty fitter-than-I've-ever-been footballer's cliche also holds true for the fanatical Carlton supporter, who has played a bundle of matches at Challenger, wildcard play-off and tournament level in recent months, and could not feel better prepared. I 100 per cent feel physically as best as I ever have. Since I had my foot surgery a few years ago, I have worked really hard every day. It's not been like something that's happened in a few weeks," said Dellacqua, 28. I have worked really, really hard every day to get in the best possible shape I can get in. The hotter the better for me. I know it's going to be really hot all week. Yeah, I'm prepared, and I'm ready for whatever conditions come. When you've been training in this type of heat it's definitely an advantage, and, yeah, if it's 40 on the day that I play, I'll be happy. That will be Wednesday, against 19th seed Kirsten Flipkens, the Wimbledon semi-finalist who conceded just three games to Briton Laura Robson. Against Zvonareva, Dellacqua knew where the comeback Russian was coming from, and had resolved to make her rusty opponent work for every point. "That first big match or first big tournament coming back, I know how it feels," she said. I have been there and done that. I wanted to make her play as many balls as I could to make her feel like she was under a lot of pressure and create a few errors from her side. She's obviously not at the level that she probably was when she was No.2 in the world. She's a quality opponent still. Despite her outstanding doubles success in reaching three grand slam finals last season with Ashleigh Barty, Dellacqua retains her singles focus, and ambition to return to the top 100 by month's end. This will help, as will the cheque of at least $50,000 for the new mother, whose partner Amanda gave birth to baby Blake five months ago. Dellacqua has seen enough of Flipkens to know what to expect, but can fill in any gaps with a scouting report from fellow WA left-hander Storm Sanders, who lost a third set tiebreak to the Belgian in Hobart last week. She's a seeded player here. But I also believe that if I do all the right things and I compete hard and I can execute well, I certainly have a good shot. The Open count is now 0-9 for Jarmila Gajdosova, who failed to live up to her Rod Laver Arena scheduling, but not unexpectedly, given that this is just her fourth tournament back from a six-month mononucleosis absence. Gajdosova found her range in the second set after twisting an ankle at the end of the first, but was wasteful either side, losing 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 to ninth seed and Sydney finalist Angelique Kerber. "I haven't played here last year, so for me coming here I didn't have much expectation," said Gajdosova, the world No.379. I was trying to play well and try to be ready as much as possible for the match, physically, and my game. As the weeks progressed from December to now, I thought I played pretty well. Thought I came close enough to win. Unfortunately I didn't. There was still mistakes made in the wrong time where she was more solid than I was. I guess she's (number) nine in the world for a reason. I thought it was pretty good, and I was happy with that. If somebody told me in the beginning I would play like that, I would be pretty happy for that. So, 10th time lucky next year? It's not being lucky. If you look at my draws, they are not very lucky, are they? Again, all I can do is keep trying to play as well as I can, and that's what I will do next year.