Maria Sharapova [Images] continues the defence of her U.S. Open title with a second round match against Australian Casey Dellacqua on Thursday. 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.
"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 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 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 faces a tough test against German Nicolas Kiefer.
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