Murray to face French veteran Santoro in first round at Wimbledon

Andy Murray will face the player known as ' The Magician' in his Wimbledon first round, but yesterday's draw conjured a scenario that will leave him happier than the top three seeds.

While the 21-year-old Scot was left to contemplate how to see off the quirky French veteran Fabrice Santoro, the big trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were handed one or two unpleasant surprises.

Murray cannot complain about his potential route towards a quarter-final against Nadal, but the Spaniard and defending champion Federer may encounter some bumps in the road along the way.

Should all obstacles be overcome, it will not delight the 26-year-old Swiss that he is the one who has been handed the potential semi-final against third seed Djokovic.

Before Murray has any thoughts of still being around at that stage, he must first overcome 35-year-old Santoro - the longest-serving player on the tour who is expected to retire at some time this year.

The two form something of a mutual admiration society, both relying on their feel for the ball as much as power and, whatever happens, the match should be a treat.

Santoro, who has been around so long that he has played 19 of the 23 official World No1s since rankings were introduced in 1973, is a particular master of spin.

Murray said: 'He uses two hands to play both forehands and backhands and comes up with some very unorthodox shots - he is one of my favourite players in the world, I love watching him.'

The Frenchman has also expressed admiration for Murray's subtle counter-punching and if he is going to cause an upset, he will have to do better than in the French Open where he took only one game off Spaniard David Ferrer.

Santoro has been playing majors since 1989 and has featured in more than any other player in history. This will be his 64th and even before the draw he had asked the referee's office if he could be put on Centre Court, where he has never played singles.

Murray should win and his projected path afterwards could see him play one time semi-finalist Xavier Malisse, who is slowly coming back from injury, and then perhaps Germany's Tommy Haas, who has never been especially happy on grass.

Last year's semi-finalist Richard Gasquet is the planned fourth round match-up and while he could be very tough, his motivation and resolve are unpredictable.

Nadal should lie in wait, although he will be most vulnerable in the first week and is sure to have a difficult second round, facing either the 6ft 9in American John Isner or Ernests Gulbis, the hugely promising Latvian who nearly beat Murray at Queen's last week.

The Spaniard pulled out of a scheduled exhibition match at the Hurlingham Club on Friday but appeared instead at Wimbledon and was happily practising.

Federer faces an awkward second round against Swedish No 1 Robin Soderling, owner of a huge serve and forehand.

He could then meet French Open semi-finalist Gael Monfils, who yesterday lost narrowly at the same stage of the Nottingham Open to Ivo Karlovic, who is in Djokovic's quarter of the Wimbledon draw.

Britain's three men other than Murray all have winnable matches, with 659th-ranked qualifier Chris Eaton rewarded by taking on Serb Boris Pashanski, a clay court specialist who has had a poor year.

Alex Bogdanovic faces Italy's 47th-ranked Simone Bolelli while Jamie Baker must get past another Italian, Stefano Galvani, who qualified with a ranking of 204.

Britain's five women have mixed draws - the best chance of progress lying with 94th-ranked Anne Keothavong, who has made the main draw without the aid of a wildcard.

She faces American Vania King, rated one place below her. Elena Baltacha will also have realistic ambitions of defeating Germany's Angelique Kerber.

The first real crunch match in the women's singles could see defending champion Venus Williams facing second seed Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals.

The winner would probably meet Maria Sharapova while the projected semi-final on the other side of the draw would feature Serena Williams against top seed Ana Ivanovic.

 

Same time this year? Federer (left) and Nadal have contested the past two Wimbledon men's finals