By DPA
Melbourne : World No.1 Roger Federer of Switzerland will ease into his Australian Open title defence as he meets Argentina’s Diego Hartfield in the first round after missing the chance to play any run-up matches.
The Swiss was forced to skip his traditional tune-up this week at Kooyong club, but was hoping to possibly get a practice match at the venue Saturday.
But whatever his final preparations are, the world number one needs to quickly gain traction as he begins his venture at the Melbourne Park starting Monday.
Hartfield, ranked 106th in the world, proved to be an easy prey for Federer at the 2006 French Open, as he thrashed the Argentine in straight sets.
However, assuming a Federer win, the second round could throw up one of two more difficult challenges in the form of unpolished but big-serving American John Isner or French racquet-magician Fabrice Santoro. Federer defeated Isner in four sets in the US Open fourth round last year.
Second seed Rafael Nadal of Spain will begin his campaign at the Australian Open against a qualifier while number three seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia faces German Benjamin Becker.
Women’s top seed Justine Henin of Belgium, who missed the Australian summer a year ago, will be up against Aiko Nakamura of Japan in the first round; while second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet Nathalie Dechy of France.
Serbia’s double threat of number three Jelena Jankovic and fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic will face European opposition to start with.
Jankovic plays teenaged Austrian Tamira Paszek, while Ivanovic will be up against Sorana Cirstea of Romania. Fifth seed Maria Sharapova, last year’s losing finalist to Serena Williams, lines up in her first official match of the season against Croatian Jelena Kostanic Tosic.
The Williams sisters are back in the top 10 after a few dull seasons, with number seven Serena playing Australian Jarmila Gajdosova in the first round and sister Venus taking on Yan Zi of China.
Floating in the women’s draw will be comeback-bound Lindsay Davenport, who since returning to the game last autumn following the birth of her son, has won three out of four events.
The 31-year-old American takes on Italian Sara Errani in the first round. Davenport has won 18 out of 19 matches since her return and aims to increase her total of 54 WTA titles.