World No 1 Rafael Nadal will play rising Australian star Bernard Tomic in the opening round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The Spaniard, who won the tournament in 2009 and missed last year's opening Grand Slam through injury, faces a testing first-round encounter against the world No 52.

In the draw made in Melbourne on Friday, Nadal was seeded to face Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the quarters.

Serbia's world No 2 Novak Djokovic, bidding for his fifth Australian crown and fourth in a row, was drawn to face Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the last eight.

Djokovic must first play Slovakia's Lukas Lacko in the opening round in the bottom half of the men's draw.

Britain's three-time runner-up Andy Murray was seeded to face 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals in the top half of the draw.

Wimbledon champion Murray will play Japan's Go Soeda first up. Federer, a four-time winner in Melbourne, meets Australian wild card James Duckworth in the opening round.

Spanish third seed David Ferrer has been drawn to face Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych in another quarterfinal.

- Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 01/12/2014 page12)