Nadal Handed Tough Path To Fifth Roland Garros Title

World number one Rafael Nadal faces a potentially treacherous task in his bid to win a fifth consecutive French Open title. The top seed, unbeaten at Roland Garros since his debut in 2005, is in the same half of the draw as Briton Andy Murray and Spanish eighth seed Fernando Verdasco who gave him a rough time in the Australian Open semi-finals.

Hewitt, battling back from hip surgery last year, and now ranked at 50 in the world, first faces 26th seed Ivo Karlovic, the giant Croatian who shocked him at Wimbledon in 2003. Claycourt specialist David Ferrer, twice a quarter-finalist, is a possible fourth round opponent with Verdasco a likely last eight rival.

Swiss second seed Roger Federer, chasing the only grand slam title to have eluded him, faces Spaniard Alberto Martin en route to a possible fourth consecutive final with Nadal, whom he beat in the Madrid Masters final earlier this month.

Federer has a possible quarter-final encounter against American sixth seed Andy Roddick, beaten in Madrid in their only claycourt meeting in 20 duels.

One of the highlights of Federer's campaign could be a semi-final with world number four Novak Djokovic of Serbia who, following a first-round match against Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti, is looking at a quarter-final clash with Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.