Murray to face qualifier

Andy Murray will play a qualifier in his opening match of the Australian Open after the draw was conducted in Melbourne on Friday.

The 22-year-old Scot was, however, placed in the toughest half of the draw and could meet reigning champion Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.

Murray, who is the number five seed, is chasing his maiden grand slam title and in a worst-case scenario would have to play Nadal in the last eight before meetings with number four seed Juan Martin del Potro and a final against world number one Roger Federer.

The Swiss landed in arguably the easier half of the draw with 2008 Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic the only one of the top-five seeds on his side.

Federer will first play world number 36 Igor Andreev while he could potentially face a difficult third-round match against local favourite Lleyton Hewitt.

Nadal will also face an Australian in the opening round when he meets Peter Luczak while Djokovic meets little-known Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Fourth seed Del Potro, who withdrew from the AAMI Classic on Thursday with a wrist injury, is due to meet 31-year-old American Michael Russell.