Djokovic biggest winner in Australian Open draw
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E-mail Xinhua, January 10, 2014
Three-time and defending champion Novak Djokovic became the biggest winner after Friday's Australian Open draw as the Serbian earns a dream one while world No.1 Rafael Nadal faces a tricky first-round against Bernard Tomic.
Unbeaten in four months, Djokovic was handed the kindest draw of the big guns. The Serbian, who goes for four Australian Open titles in a row, meets Slovakia's world No.90 Lukas Lacko to open his journey and is drawn to meet 15th seed Fabio Fognini in the fourth round.
The biggest threat in Djokovic's quarter is Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who will play against Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev in the first round. And then the world No.2 is seeded to run into Spanish world No.3 David Ferrer in the semifinals.
Top-seeded Nadal, No.4 Andy Murray, No.5 Juan Martin del Potro and No.6 Roger Federer all stacked in the opposite half.
Nadal, who missed last year's Australian Open with a left knee injury during a seven-month absence from the tour, returned to win 10 titles in 2013 and regain the No.1 ranking, overtaking Djokovic. His first round opponent Tomic reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2011 and has been ranked as high as No.27.
Nadal also had No.25 Gael Monfils, former No.1 Lleyton Hewitt and 16th-seeded Nishikori Kei in his section.
Federer will open against Australian wild-card entry James Duckworth and Murray takes on Japanese Soeda Go. The quarterfinals in that half would likely feature Nadal against del Potro and Federer against Murray.
Chinese young star Wu Di, who ranked No.204, will meet world No. 86 Kenny de Schepper of France and will challenge 7th-seeded Tomas Berdych in the second round.
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