Melbourne, Australia, 10 January 2013 | David Packman

Tammi Patterson got a call just a few days ago inviting her to compete in the Australian Open 2013 qualifying tournament as a wildcard.

The 23-year-old Sydneysider, ranked just 575 in the world, made the most of that today, taking apart Czech Zuzana Ondraskova 6-3 6-0 in just 54 minutes.

“I had to prepare pretty quick to make sure I was ready to come out and play as best I could,” said Patterson after the match.

On court, she looked at the peak of her powers with her solid serve giving her an edge and handing her a significant number of free points.

“I think I served really well today,” she said. “I’ve been working pretty hard on it lately and I feel like it’s paying off.”

In discussing her opponent after the match, Patterson admitted she hadn’t known much about her.

“Obviously she is much more experienced than I am, but I didn’t really know what to expect.”

“But once I got the hang of her game style, I was able to get on top.”

As it turns out, Ondraskova has been ranked as high as 74 in the world, and has had career victories over such players as Li Na, Marion Bartoli, Daniela Hantuchova and Dinara Safina.

“I didn’t know she’d beaten those types of players,” Patterson said. “That’s definitely a bit of inspiration for me to keep going.”

After taking some time off last year, Patterson said her goals in 2013 are to just play as many matches as she can and stay injury-free.

Patterson now takes on Portugal’s Maria Joao Koehler in the second round of qualifying.