No easy draw for Federer in Australia

MELBOURNE, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Roger Federer's half of the Australian Open draw includes five other Top 10 players, including red hot Nikolay Davydenko.

Federer is seeking his fourth Australian Open title when the year's first Grand Slam event opens Monday in Melbourne. Federer, who owns Australian Open titles from 2004, 2006 and 2007, goes against Igor Andreev in the first round and, if the draw plays to form, would go against Davydenko in the quarterfinals.

Davydenko, seeded sixth, has beaten both Federer and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in his last two tournaments. No. 9-seeded Fernando Verdasco is also in the top quarter of the draw.

The other half of the top part of the bracket features 2008 Australian Open champion and third-seeded Novak Djokovic, No. 8 Robin Soderling and 10th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The two halves of the draw seem fairly equal. While Federer's section has six Top 10 players, the bottom half boasts three of the Top Five in the world.

Nadal, the defending champion in Melbourne, has local favorite Peter Luczak as his first-round opponent and could be facing fifth-seeded Andy Murray in the quarterfinals.

The other half of the bottom section of the draw has fourth-seeded Juan Martin del Porto and No. 7-seeded Andy Roddick as a potential quarterfinal pairing.

The 2009 Australian Open final featured Nadal and Federer in a five-set battle that Nadal won 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-2.

The tournament begins Monday and concludes with the men's singles finals Jan. 31.