Australian Open 2011: Andy Murray faces Karol Beck in first round at Melbourne Park
Andy Murray will open his quest for a maiden grand slam title against Karol Beck at the Australian Open after being handed a draw which starts favourably before turning considerably more difficult.
Murray will meet Beck in the first round with either Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo or Illya Marchenko lying in wait for the winner.
A third-round clash with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, seeded No 32, should hold no fear, likewise a potential fourth-round meeting with talented but erratic 11th seed Jurgen Melzer.
However, from the last-eight stage things could get tricky with Murray scheduled to meet Robin Soderling, the Swede who replaced him this week as world No 4.
Murray holds a 3-2 edge in the head-to-head record but Soderling has improved considerably over the last couple of years and will present a formidable challenge for last year's beaten Australian Open finalist at Melbourne Park.
Should he prevail, the 23 year-old would then face Rafael Nadal.
A third-round clash with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, seeded No 32, should hold no fear, likewise a potential fourth-round meeting with talented but erratic 11th seed Jurgen Melzer.
However, from the last-eight stage things could get tricky with Murray scheduled to meet Robin Soderling, the Swede who replaced him this week as world No 4.
Murray holds a 3-2 edge in the head-to-head record but Soderling has improved considerably over the last couple of years and will present a formidable challenge for last year's beaten Australian Open finalist at Melbourne Park.
Should he prevail, the 23 year-old would then face Rafael Nadal.
Murray was the only man to beat the left-handed Spaniard in a major last year, after defeating Nadal here in the quarter-finals, before watching as the world No 1 swept to glory at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Roger Federer - the winner of a record 16 grand slam crowns - is his potential opponent in the final.
Nadal is likely to make untroubled progress to the last four as he attempts to become the first man to hold all four major titles since Australia's Rod Laver in 1969.
His opening-round opponent is Marcos Daniel of Brazil while Marin Cilic and Mikhail Youzhny are both on the radar before a potential last-eight meeting with countryman David Ferrer.
Federer starts his campaign against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia with Andy Roddick his scheduled last-eight opponent and Novak Djokovic lying in wait in the semis.
The most eye-catching match-up to emerge from the draw, which was made by Ivan Lendl, pits local hero Lleyton Hewitt against Argentinian 27th seed David Nalbandian in what is a repeat of the 2002 Wimbledon final which was won by the Australian.
Men's draw:
Rafa Nadal (Spain) v Marcos Daniel (Brazil)
Qualifier v Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain)
Bernard Tomic (Australia) v Jeremy Chardy (France)
Alejandro Falla (Colombia) v Feliciano Lopez (Spain)
John Isner (U.S.) v Florent Serra (France)
Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) v Qualifier
Rui Machado (Portugal) v Santiago Giraldo (Colombia)
Qualifier v Marin Cilic (Croatia)
Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) v Marsel Ilhan (Turkey)
Qualifier v Kevin Anderson (South Africa)
Qualifier v Bjorn Phau (Germany)
Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) v Michael Llodra (France)
David Nalbandian (Argentina) v Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)
Richard Berankis (Lithuania) v Marinko Matosevic (Australia)
Michael Russell (U.S.) v Matthew Ebden (Australia)
Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) v David Ferrer (Spain)
Robin Soderling (Sweden) v Potito Starace (Italy)
Qualifier v Qualifier
Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) v Qualifier
Ricardo Mello (Brazil) v Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)
Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) v Benjamin Becker (Germany)
Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) v Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan)
Andreas Seppi (Italy) v Arnaud Clement (France)
Philipp Petzschner (Germany) v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)
Jurgen Melzer (Austria) v Qualifier
Carsten Ball (Australia) v Pere Riba (Spain)
Dudi Sela (Israel) v Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina)
Qualifier v Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) v Michael Berrer (Germany)
Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) v Leonardo Mayer (Argentina)
Illya Marchenko (Ukraine) v Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain)
Karol Beck (Slovakia) v Andy Murray (Britain)
Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) v Qualifier
Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) v Tobias Kamke (Germany)
Ryan Harrison (U.S.) v Adrian Mannarino (France)
Qualifier v Richard Gasquet (France)
Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) v Florian Mayer (Germany)
Fabio Fognini (Italy) v Kei Nishikori (Japan)
Mischa Zverev (Germany) v Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)
Rainer Schuettler (Germany) v Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
Nicolas Almagro (Spain) v Qualifier
Igor Andreev (Russia) v Filippo Volandri (Italy)
Qualifier v Benoit Paire (France)
Peter Luczak (Australia) v Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)
Viktor Troicki (Serbia) v Dmitry Tursunov (Russia)
Brian Dabul (Argentina) v Qualifier
Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) v Ivan Dodig (Croatia)
Marcel Granollers (Spain) v Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Andy Roddick (U.S.) v Jan Hajek (Czech Republic)
Michal Przysiezny (Poland) v Igor Kunitsyn (Russia)
Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) v Robin Haase (Netherlands)
Julien Benneteau (France) v Juan Monaco (Argentina)
Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) v Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia)
Qualifier v Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan)
Frederico Gil (Portugal) v Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay)
Thiemo de Bakker (Netherlands) v Gael Monfils (France)
Mardy Fish (U.S.) v Victor Hanescu (Romania)
Tommy Robredo (Spain) v Somdev Devvarman (India)
Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) v Daniel Brands (Germany)
Lukasz Kubot (Poland) v Sam Querrey (U.S.)
Albert Montanes (Spain) v Dustin Brown (Germany)
Pablo Andujar (Spain) v Xavier Malisse (Belgium)
Lu Yen-hsun (Taiwan) v Gilles Simon (France)
Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) v Roger Federer (Switzerland)
Roger Federer - the winner of a record 16 grand slam crowns - is his potential opponent in the final.
Nadal is likely to make untroubled progress to the last four as he attempts to become the first man to hold all four major titles since Australia's Rod Laver in 1969.
His opening-round opponent is Marcos Daniel of Brazil while Marin Cilic and Mikhail Youzhny are both on the radar before a potential last-eight meeting with countryman David Ferrer.
Federer starts his campaign against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia with Andy Roddick his scheduled last-eight opponent and Novak Djokovic lying in wait in the semis.
The most eye-catching match-up to emerge from the draw, which was made by Ivan Lendl, pits local hero Lleyton Hewitt against Argentinian 27th seed David Nalbandian in what is a repeat of the 2002 Wimbledon final which was won by the Australian.
Men's draw:
Rafa Nadal (Spain) v Marcos Daniel (Brazil)
Qualifier v Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain)
Bernard Tomic (Australia) v Jeremy Chardy (France)
Alejandro Falla (Colombia) v Feliciano Lopez (Spain)
John Isner (U.S.) v Florent Serra (France)
Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) v Qualifier
Rui Machado (Portugal) v Santiago Giraldo (Colombia)
Qualifier v Marin Cilic (Croatia)
Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) v Marsel Ilhan (Turkey)
Qualifier v Kevin Anderson (South Africa)
Qualifier v Bjorn Phau (Germany)
Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) v Michael Llodra (France)
David Nalbandian (Argentina) v Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)
Richard Berankis (Lithuania) v Marinko Matosevic (Australia)
Michael Russell (U.S.) v Matthew Ebden (Australia)
Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) v David Ferrer (Spain)
Robin Soderling (Sweden) v Potito Starace (Italy)
Qualifier v Qualifier
Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) v Qualifier
Ricardo Mello (Brazil) v Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)
Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) v Benjamin Becker (Germany)
Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) v Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan)
Andreas Seppi (Italy) v Arnaud Clement (France)
Philipp Petzschner (Germany) v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)
Jurgen Melzer (Austria) v Qualifier
Carsten Ball (Australia) v Pere Riba (Spain)
Dudi Sela (Israel) v Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina)
Qualifier v Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) v Michael Berrer (Germany)
Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) v Leonardo Mayer (Argentina)
Illya Marchenko (Ukraine) v Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain)
Karol Beck (Slovakia) v Andy Murray (Britain)
Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) v Qualifier
Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) v Tobias Kamke (Germany)
Ryan Harrison (U.S.) v Adrian Mannarino (France)
Qualifier v Richard Gasquet (France)
Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) v Florian Mayer (Germany)
Fabio Fognini (Italy) v Kei Nishikori (Japan)
Mischa Zverev (Germany) v Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)
Rainer Schuettler (Germany) v Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
Nicolas Almagro (Spain) v Qualifier
Igor Andreev (Russia) v Filippo Volandri (Italy)
Qualifier v Benoit Paire (France)
Peter Luczak (Australia) v Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)
Viktor Troicki (Serbia) v Dmitry Tursunov (Russia)
Brian Dabul (Argentina) v Qualifier
Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) v Ivan Dodig (Croatia)
Marcel Granollers (Spain) v Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Andy Roddick (U.S.) v Jan Hajek (Czech Republic)
Michal Przysiezny (Poland) v Igor Kunitsyn (Russia)
Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) v Robin Haase (Netherlands)
Julien Benneteau (France) v Juan Monaco (Argentina)
Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) v Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia)
Qualifier v Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan)
Frederico Gil (Portugal) v Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay)
Thiemo de Bakker (Netherlands) v Gael Monfils (France)
Mardy Fish (U.S.) v Victor Hanescu (Romania)
Tommy Robredo (Spain) v Somdev Devvarman (India)
Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) v Daniel Brands (Germany)
Lukasz Kubot (Poland) v Sam Querrey (U.S.)
Albert Montanes (Spain) v Dustin Brown (Germany)
Pablo Andujar (Spain) v Xavier Malisse (Belgium)
Lu Yen-hsun (Taiwan) v Gilles Simon (France)
Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) v Roger Federer (Switzerland)
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