Andy Roddick will receive a baptism of fire at his first Grand Slam as number one seed after being drawn on Friday against Fernando Gonzalez in the first round of next week's Australian Open.

Also Read Australian Open seedings

While Roddick has the biggest serve in tennis, Chilean Gonzalez is widely considered to have the most potent forehand and there has been nothing to choose between these two in previous matches.

The American world number one and Gonzalez, ranked 35th but no stranger to the top 20, have met twice before in 2002 and the honours were split.

Neither match could have been tighter, Gonzalez winning on a Cincinnati hard court 7-6, 7-6 and Roddick victorious by the same scoreline on clay in Monte Carlo.

"It's a tough first round, I don't know where he is ranked but I thought he would be seeded," Roddick told reporters at the Kooyong warm-up event.

"But hey, it means I am going to have to play right from the start. I beat him on clay and he beat me on hardcourts so go figure...we usually have pretty fun matches."

Providing Roddick gets past Gonzalez, he could meet 27th seed Taylor Dent in the third round of the A$19 million (US$14.65 million) slam.

Roddick and Greg Rusedski, who share the world's fastest serve of 149 miles per hour, are the only players to crash a delivery down harder than American Dent.

While Roddick knows he has his work cut out, second seed Roger Federer will have to wait to learn his fate. The Swiss Wimbledon champion was drawn against a qualifier.

MAMMOTH TASK

Champion Andre Agassi, in Roddick's top half of the draw, will have the weight of a home crowd against him in his opener when he takes to the court against wildcard Todd Larkham.

Another Australian wildcard with a mammoth task is 15-year-old Olivia Lukaszewicz. The teenager was drawn against Belgian world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne in round one of the women's event.

Lukaszewicz is ranked 922nd in the world and 34th in her country.

Henin-Hardenne's compatriot, second seed Kim Clijsters, will face Germany's Marlene Weingartner in her first match.

Venus Williams, runner-up here last year to sister Serena, who is absent this time round, faces a potentially tough clash against fellow American Ashley Harkleroad.

Ranked 11 in the world but elevated to third seed, Venus has not played competitively since losing to Serena in the Wimbledon final last July.

Harkleroad is ranked 43rd in the world, is moving up fast and could cause Williams trouble.

Fifth seed Lindsay Davenport, the only former champion in the women's draw, lines up against Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir while fourth-seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo faces Taiwanese wildcard Chuang Chia-jung.

APPLY BRAKES

The men's draw threw up a number of intriguing battles.

Seventh seed and former world number one Carlos Moya of Spain will not relish his first-round match after being drawn against James Blake.

The flamboyant Blake is on a hot streak having helped the U.S. to the Hopman Cup title last week.

Mighty Marat Safin, the former world number one whose ranking has plummeted into the 70s after a year out with injury, plays American Brian Vahaly in round one.

Runner-up here in 2002, Safin could then meet Chilean 12th seed Nicolas Massu in round two.

On form, the Russian is unstoppable and the entire top quarter including Roddick, Younes El Aynaoui and Moya will hope someone can apply the brakes on him before he builds up a head of steam.

Rusedski, whose positive nandrolone test, revealed last week, has hogged the sports pages ever since, plays 26th seed Albert Costa of Spain.

His fellow Briton, 11th seed Tim Henman, opens against France's Jean-Rene Lisnard. Australian hopes lie with former world number one Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis.

Hewitt, seeded 15th, plays a qualifier while 10th seed Philippoussis is matched against 2002 champion Thomas Johansson.

Swede Johansson missed much of last year due to injury, however, and should not pose too much of a threat to Philippoussis, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2003.

The Australian Open runs from January 19 to February 1.