Aussie draw hands Hewitt Czech challenge
Third seed and last year's runner-up Lleyton Hewitt will begin his quest for the Australian Open title with a first round match against Czech Robin Vik.
Top seed and 2004 winner, Switzerland’s Roger Federer, plays Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, while second seeded American Andy Roddick and fourth seeded Argentine David Nalbandian will face qualifiers.
American Lindsay Davenport, the women’s top seed and 2000 champion, plays Australia's Casey Dellacqua, while Belgian Kim Clijsters, the second seed, takes on Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho.
American Venus Williams, women’s champion at the All-England Championships last summer, is seeded 10 and her sister Serena Williams, the defending champion, is 13 after a disrupted 2005.
Serena opens against China’s Na Li, while Venus plays Bulgaria’s Tszvetana Pironkova.
Switzerland's Martina Hingis, three times a winner of the Australian Open and three times a runner-up, returns for the first time since 2002 with a tricky first round match against 30th seed Vera Zvonareva, one of nine seeded Russians.
Fourth seed Maria Sharapova, who leads the Russian challenge, opens against Germany's Sandra Kloesel.
MEN'S SINGLES DRAW FOR THE 2006 AUSTRALIAN OPEN:
(1) Roger Federer (Swi) v Denis Istomin (Uzb)
Hyung Taik Lee (Kor) v Florian Mayer (Ger)
Qualifier v Davide Sanguinetti (Ita)
Thierry Ascione (Fra) v (30) Max Mirnyi (Blr)
(24) Olivier Rochus (Bel) v Michael Llodra (Fra)
Ivo Minar (Cze) v Peter Luczak (Aus)
Paul Goldstein (USA) v Novak Djokovic (Ser)
Tommy Haas (Ger) v (14)Richard Gasquet (Fra)
(12) Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) v Qualifier
Qualifier v Dick Norman (Bel)
Qualifier v Raemon Sluiter (Ned)
Nicolas Almagro (Spa) v (23) Igor Andreev (Rus)
(29) Filippo Volandri (Ita) v Nathan Healey (Aus)
Potito Starace (Ita) v Amer Delic (USA)
Qualifier v Kevin Kim (USA)
Ivo Karlovic (Cro) v (5) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)
(3) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) v Robin Vik (Cze)
Andrew Murray (Gbr) vJuan Ignacio Chela (Arg)
Christophe Rochus (Bel) v Kristof Vilegen (Bel)
Kenneth Carlsen (Den) v (28) Fernando Verdasco (Spa)
(21) Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) v Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha)
Wayne Arthurs (Aus) v Boris Pashanski (Ser)
Andreas Seppi (Ita) v Qualifier
Tomas Zib (Cze) v (15) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa)
(9) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) v Qualifier
Arnaud Clement (Fra) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra)
Carlos Berlocq (Arg) v Bjorn Phau (Ger)
Luis Horna (Per) v (22) Gael Monfils (Fra)
(25) Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) v Mark Philippoussis (Aus)
Jean-Rene Lisnard (Fra) v Juan Monaco (Arg)
Juan Antonio Marin (Crc) v Alberto Martin (Spa)
Victor Hanescu (Rom) v (6) Guillermo Coria (Arg)
(8) Gaston Gaudio (Arg) v Razvan Sabau (Rom)
Qualifier v Rainer Schuettler (Ger)
Fabrice Santoro (Fra) v Vincent Spadea (USA)
Andrei Pavel (Rom) v (32) Carlos Moya (Spa)
(18) Mario Ancic (Cro) v Agustin Calleri (Arg)
Jan Hernych (Cze) v Fernando Vicente (Spa)
Daniele Bracciali (Ita) v Qualifier
Florent Serra (Fra) v (11) David Ferrer (Spa)
(16) Tommy Robredo (Spa) v Jiri Vanek (Cze)
Tim Henman (Gbr) v Dmitry Tursunov (Rus)
Qualifier v Alexander Waske (Ger)
Jose Acasuso (Arg) v (20) James Blake (USA)
(26) Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) v Marc Kimmich (Aus)
Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) v Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (Tpe)
Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) v Albert Montanes (Spa)
Qualifier v (4) David Nalbandian (Arg)
(7) Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) v Chris Guccione (Aus)
Lukas Dlouhy (Cze) v Phillip Kohlschreiber (Ger)
Ricardo Mello (Bra) v Gilles Muller (Lux)
Tomas Behrend (Ger) v (31) Feliciano Lopez (Spa)
(19) Tomas Berdych (Cze) v Bobby Reynolds (USA)
Qualifier v Nicolas Massu (Chi)
Xavier Malisse (Bel) v Mikhail Youzhny (Rus)
Cyril Saulnier (Fra) v (10) Thomas Johansson (Swe)
(13) Robby Ginepri (USA) v Jurgen Melzer (Aut)
Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) v Qualifier
Justin Gimelstob (USA) v Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp)
Qualifier v (17) Radek Stepanek (Cze)
(27) Taylor Dent (USA) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa)
Marcos Daniel (Bra) v Qualifier
Wesley Moodie (Rsa) v Oscar Hernandez (Spa)
Qualifier v (2) Andy Roddick (USA)
WOMEN'S SINGLES DRAW FOR THE 2006 AUSTRALIAN OPEN:
(1) Lindsay Davenport (USA) v Casey Dellacqua (Aus)
Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) v Karolina Sprem (Cro)
Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Swi) v Galina Voskoboeva (Rus)
Evgenia Linetskaya (Rus) v (25) Maria Kirilenko (Rus)
(24) Tatiana Golovin (Fra) v Mara Santangelo (Ita)
Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) v Stephanie Foretz (Fra)
Tatiana Panova (Rus) v Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spa)
Lauren Breadmore (Aus) v (14) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)
(10) Venus Williams (USA) v Tzvetana Pironkova (Bul)
Qualifier v Laura Granville (USA)
Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spa) v Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa)
Lisa Raymond (USA) v (18) Elena Likhovtseva (Rus)
(26) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) v Conchita Martinez Granados (Spa)
Jelena Dokic (Aus) v Virginie Razzano (Fra)
Hana Sromova (Cze) v Akiko Morigami (Jpn)
Marta Domachowska (Pol) v (8) Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel)
(4) Maria Sharapova (Rus) v Sandra Kloesol (Ger)
Qualifier v Shuai Peng (Chn)
Mashona Washington (USA) v Jelena Kostanic (Cro)
Zuzana Ondraskova (Cze) v (28) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa)
(17) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) v Saori Obata (Jpn)
Dally Randriantefy (Mad) v Akgul Amanmuradov (Uzb)
Mariana Diaz-Oliva (Arg) v Camille Pin (Fra)
Na Li (Chn) v (13) Serena Williams (USA)
(9) Elena Dementieva (Rus) v Julia Schruff (Ger)
Elena Vesnina (Rus) v Qualifier
Qualifier v Qualifier
Jill Craybas (USA) v (23) Jelena Jankovic (Ser)
(29) Klara Koukalova (Cze) v Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus)
Maria Elena Camerin (Ita) v Qualifier
Qualifier v Martina Muller (Ger)
Sophie Ferguson (Aus) v (6) Nadia Petrova (Rus)
(7) Patty Schnyder (Swi) v Eleni Daniilidou (Gre)
Shahar Peer (Isr) v Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn)
Alize Cornet (Fra) v Aiko Nakamura (Jpn)
Maret Ani (Est) v (31) Gisela Dulko (Arg)
(19) Dinara Safina (Rus) v Tathiana Garbin (Ita)
Maria Vento-Kabchi (Ven) v Sofia Arvidsson (Swe)
Jamea Jackson (USA) v Qualifier
Yuliana Fedak (Ukr) v (12) Anastasia Myskina (Rus)
(16) Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) v Qualifier
AnnaChakvetadze (Rus) v Jie Zheng (Chn)
Martina Sucha (Svk) v Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (Isr)
Qualifier v (20) Flavia Pennetta (Ita)
(32) Sania Mirza (Ind) v Qualifier
Michaella Krajicek (Ned) v Kristina Brandi (Pue)
Emilie Loit (Fra) v Viktoria Kutuzova (Ukr)
Tian Tian Sun (Chn) v (3) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra)
(5) Mary Pierce (Fra) v Nicole Pratt (Aus)
Iveta Benesova (Cze) v Rika Fujiwara (Jpn)
Emma Laine (Fin) v Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa)
Martina Hingis (Swi) v (30) Vera Zvonareva (Rus)
(21) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) v Shenay Perry (USA)
Samantha Stosur (Aus) v Severine Bremond (Fra)
Eva Birnerova (Cze) v Sybille Bammer (Aut)
Zi Yan (Chn) v (11) Nathalie Dechy (Fra)
(15) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) v Antonella Serra-Zanetti (Ita)
Vera Dushevina (Rus) v Catalina Castano (Col)
Lucie Safarova (Cze) v Maria Antonia Sanchez-Lorenzo (Spa)
Laura Pous Tio (Spa) v (22) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger)
(27) Marion Bartoli (Fra) v Amy Frazier (USA)
Roberta Vinci (Ita) v Meghann Shaughnessy (USA)
Qualifier v Melinda Czink (Hun)
Yoon-Jeong Cho (Kor) v (2) Kim Clijsters (Bel)
