Murray to face Pavel in the first round

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The world number four, who is chasing his first grand slam title and the first for a British man since Fred Perry in 1936, is in the same side of the draw as top seed Rafael Nadal.

Murray has successfully defended his Qatar Open crown and won the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi this year, and comes into the tournament in Melbourne with victories against Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick under his belt.

The 21-year-old will also be keen to banish the memories of his first-round exit last year at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, an eventual finalist.

The British number one has played Pavel once before at the US Open in 2005, where he took five sets to overcome the Romanian in the first round.

World number one Nadal will take on Belgian Christophe Rochus in his opening match at Melbourne Park, while Federer kicks off his chase for a record-equalling 14th grand slam title against Andreas Seppi.

Novak Djokovic begins the defence of his title against a qualifier, while 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez has a tough match against Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who is unseeded.