Swiss world number two Roger Federer and Serb Novak Djokovic were included in the same half again at this year's Australian Open as the event organisers made the draw in Melbourne on Friday.

Spain's world number one Rafael Nadal has to lift up his game en route to a possible semifinal clash against British fourth seed Andy Murray, who has just finished the Spaniard in an exhibition tournament early this month.

The top seed had been hoping to get some much-needed match practice before the year's first Grand Slam but found him kicked out earlier from the just ended Qatar Open, the lone warm-up ATP tournament he participated in ahead of the renowned event.

In the opening round, the Spaniard will face Christophe Rochus, a 75th ranked player whom he's never met.

En route, he will possibly play French sixth seed Gilles Simon in the quarterfinals.

Murray's first-round opponent is Romanian Andrei Pavel and he also has last year's beaten finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in his quarter of the draw.

The Frenchman beat Murray in the opening round of last Australian Open.

Murray, who saw an undaunted rise on the ATP rankings last year, would be the first British man to win a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry back in 1936 if he wins the Australian title.

Federer, beaten by Djokovic in last year's semifinal and bidding for his fourth Australian crown, takes on Italian Andreas Seppi in the first round and could meet 2005 champion and 26th seeded Russian Marat Safin in the third round.

Three seeded Djokovic was handed a much lighter first-round test, taking on a qualifier but he has American seventh seed Andy Roddick and Argentine 10th seed David Nalbandian in his quarter.

In women's part, world number one Jelena Jankovic will have an easy time in her quarter's play as only seventh seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia could pose real threat upon her.

The 23-year-old Jankovic, who is still looking for her first Grand Slam crown, pulled out of Hong Kong World Team Challenge with flu this month, leaving her desperately short of match practice.

The Serb will take on Yvonne Meusburger of Austria in the opening round.

Russian number one Dinara Safina will be hardly tested until a potential fourth round clash against Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.

Safina climbed to third in the world rankings at the end of 2008 and flew to Australia looking in the best physical shape of her career.

The Williams sisters, who both enjoyed a great season last year, will be expecting a family reunion at the semifinals but Venus needs to work harder as she could meet an upsurging Russian Elena Dementieva, who has just claimed a New Zealand title.

In the first round action, Venus will meet Angelique Kerber of Germany while Serena, the reigning U.S. Open winner, shall take on China's Yuan Meng.