AUSTRALIAN wildcard Casey Dellacqua last night admitted nerves derailed a season-opening victory over world No. 12 Nicole Vaidisova in the first round of the Australian Women's Hardcourts.

An upset looked on the cards when Dellacqua, ranked 74 places below her Czech opponent, took the first set 7-5 and had three break points at 4-4 in the second.

But the left-handed West Australian couldn't convert any of those break points and Vaidisova went on to claim the set 7-5.

Vaidisova then smashed Dellacqua 6-0 in the deciding set.

"When it got tight I probably did get a little bit nervous," Dellacqua said.

"I actually felt a little bit nervous before the match."

In the second set, in which the fourth-ranked Australian was the steadier player, Vaidisova was a heavyweight swinging on the ropes, her groundstroke game not resembling the one which took her to the semi-finals of the Australian Open last year.

But Dellacqua, advantaged by an Australian summer preparation, lost conviction when she lost the second set after failing to convert the three break points.

On the second point, Dellacqua had a look at a second serve, but netted her backhand return.

"I'm going to be thinking about that point. I feel like I didn't back myself and dumped it in the net," said Dellacqua, who turns 24 next month.

"But I'll take that as a learning experience into many more matches in the future," she said.

"I feel really close to getting my first win over one of the top 50 players and then I'll be on my way.

"I think she's definitely got one of the biggest serves in the women's game because she's just so tall and it comes from a different height."

Dellacqua yesterday pocketed a Tennis Australia wildcard into the main draw of the Hobart International, which starts on Sunday.

She and Vaidisova served 11 double-faults in the blustery conditions at Royal Pines, but 17 aces by Vaidisova left Dellacqua admitting she had trouble picking the pending direction of her serve.

Vaidisova made good use of the drop shot, believing the Australian's movement suspect despite her greater application to fitness last year.

"Probably 80 per cent of the drop shots she didn't get back," Vaidisova said.

"She definitely played good tennis and I felt I continuously picked up my game in the third set. It's always tough the first match of the year."

China's Na Li began her year with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 win against world No. 19 Sybille Bammer.

Bammer, the Austrian who beat Serena Williams in Hobart last January, was the third of eight seeds to be beaten with the top two, Vaidisova and Dinara Safina, taken to deciding sets.

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