Melbourne, 18 January 2012 | AAP

Australia’s teenage tennis star Bernard Tomic will be out to reach the Australian Open third round for the second year in a row when he battles American Sam Querrey at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night.

Tomic, sure to be backed by a large and vocal crowd, will take plenty of belief into the clash, having booked his spot with a remarkable comeback win over Spanish 22nd seed Fernando Verdasco in the opening round.

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While Tomic was on court for more than four hours in that match, Querrey will be much fresher, having needed less than an hour-and-a-half for his straight-sets first-round win.

Fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua faces a more daunting challenge in Wednesday night’s second match in Rod Laver Arena, up against in-form Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.

Third seed Azarenka, fresh from winning the Sydney International, gave up just one game in her first-round demolition of Britain’s Heather Watson.

Earlier on Wednesday, Australian wildcard entrant Olivia Rogowska faces a similarly tough obstacle, in the form of last year’s runner-up, China’s Li Na.

Reigning women’s champion Kim Clijsters will continue her title defence, while Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal faces what could be an interesting second round clash with German veteran Tommy Haas.

Swiss star Roger Federer and Danish world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki will also play their second round matches.

Crowd favourite Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis will play the night match in Margaret Court Arena, against Switzerland’s 21st seed Stanislas Wawrinka.