Draw Revealed For The 2015 Australia Open

Draw revealed for AO 2015

Reigning champions Li Na and Stanislas Wawrinka were in attendance as the draw for Australian Open 2015 was released at Melbourne Park on Friday morning.
By Matt Clayton | Friday, 16 January, 2015

The draw for Australian Open 2015 has been released, with some mouthwatering matches in prospect for the early rounds of the year’s first major.
Last year’s men’s singles champion Stanislas Wawrinka opens the defence of his sole Grand Slam title to date against Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan and has a favourable draw, while compatriot and four-time Melbourne Park champion Roger Federer opens his tournament against Yen-Hsun Lu from Chinese Taipei.
Federer, who hasn’t won in Melbourne since 2010, is on the same side of the draw as Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, and could meet the Scot in the quarterfinals and the Spaniard in the semis.
Four-time AO champion Novak Djokovic begins against a qualifier, as does men’s sixth seed and three-time Australian Open runner-up Murray. Djokovic could meet big-hitting Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the third round.
Last year’s runner-up and 2009 Australian Open champion Nadal faces a tricky first-round encounter with Russian Mikhail Youzhny, and could meet Czech Lukas Rosol, who sensationally eliminated him from the first round at Wimbledon in 2012, in the fourth round. 
US Open 2009 champion Juan Martin Del Potro, ranked No.338 as he comes back to the sport after a 2014 season wrecked by a left wrist injury, faces Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in an explosive first-round matchup, with the winner likely to face flamboyant Frenchman Gael Monfils in the second round.
Of the Australians, Nick Kyrgios faces Federico Delbonis of Argentina in the first round and could meet Federer in the fourth round, while Lleyton Hewitt begins his record 19th Australian Open against Chinese wildcard Ze Zhang.
Bernard Tomic opens his 2015 Melbourne campaign against German Tobias Kamke, while Thanasi Kokkinakis faces Latvian 11th seed Ernests Gulbis in the opening round.
In the women’s draw, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka will face Australian Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens in an intriguing first-round clash after their contentious semifinal here two years ago. Azarenka, who won in Melbourne in 2012 and 2013, has slid to world No.41 after an injury-blighted 2014 season, and could face Caroline Wozniacki, the eighth seed, in the second round.
The road to a sixth Australian Open singles title for Serena Williams is tricky, with the American top seed on track to face Vera Zvonareva in the second round, Ukraine’s 26th seed Elina Svitolina in the third round, and either Jelena Jankovic or Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round.
Australian Open 2008 champion and second seed Maria Sharapova faces a qualifier in the first round and is on course for a quarterfinal with last year’s breakout star Eugenie Bouchard, while last year’s runner-up Dominika Cibulkova starts her tournament against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens.
Of the Australians, Sam Stosur is on track to play her 2010 French Open conqueror Francesca Schiavone in the second round, while 29th seed Casey Dellacqua opens her tournament against Austria’s Yvonne Meusburger, and could face two-time major winner Petra Kvitova in the third round.