Murray handed tough opener

World number 38 Tsonga is among the highest-ranked players Murray, seeded ninth in Melbourne, could have been drawn against and the Scot, who kicked off the year by winning the title in Doha, said he expecting a battle.

"He's obviously playing really well right now," Murray, the world number nine, told reporters after earning a second win out of three at the Kooyong Classic, beating Australian teenager Brydan Klein 6-2 7-6.

"In the next month or so (his ranking) will probably get him seeded at slams, so it's a tough match.

"He has a good serve, is a good athlete, hits the ball pretty hard from the baseline and it's going to be a hard match for me. But if I play like I have been, I have a good chance to win."

Drawn in the opposite half to Roger Federer at Melbourne Park, providing he can get past Tsonga, Murray looks a good bet to get to the quarter-finals, where another of the younger generation, Frenchman Richard Gasquet, could be waiting.

The Scot said he was not taking anything for granted.

"Hopefully I'll come through that one (against Tsonga) and then start to look at the draw a little bit," he said.

"But when you've got a first-round match like that, you are not going to look past someone as tough as him.

"He beat (Lleyton) Hewitt pretty convincingly in Adelaide and made the semis there, so he has obviously started the year well."

Meanwhile, world number one Federer will begin the defence of his title against Argentine Diego Hartfield.

The Swiss, bidding for his 13th grand-slam title, was handed a kind draw in the early stages, though he could face a quarter-final against seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, whom he beat in the final 12 months ago.

Federer had to pull out of the warm-up event at Kooyong because of a virus but is expected to be fully fit to play.

Third seed Novak Djokovic is his projected semi-final opponent, though Argentine David Nalbandian, who beat Federer twice at the end of last year, is lurking in the same half.

Second seed Rafael Nadal, number six Andy Roddick, eighth seed Gasquet and Murray are all in the opposite half.

Nadal and Roddick will both play qualifiers in the first round.

Women's top seed Justine Henin of Belgium takes on Aiko Nakimura of Japan in the first round.

The Belgian, who won the French Open and U.S. Open in 2007, has a seemingly clear path through to the quarter-finals, where she is scheduled to play fifth seed Maria Sharapova.

However, the Russian is likely to face a tough second-round match against former champion Lindsay Davenport.

Davenport, who is unseeded this year, has won three titles in her four events since returning to the tour in September, having had a year off, during which she had her first child.

Serena Williams will begin the defence of her title against Jarmila Gajdosova, a Slovakia-born wildcard now playing for Australia.

The seventh seed, who won her eighth grand-slam title 12 months ago, is scheduled to play third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the quarter-finals, while Henin would be her likely semi-final opponent.

American Venus Williams, seeded eighth, is in the opposite half and could play Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, whom she beat to win the Wimbledon title last year, in the fourth round.

Williams would then be likely to play fourth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the quarter-finals.

World number 12 Tommy Haas, a former semi-finalist at Melbourne Park, pulled out on the eve of the draw because of injury.