London, June 22 :  Britain's Andy Murray has been handed a tricky first-round match at Wimbledon against former World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, after the men's competition was drawn Friday.

Murray is in the same half of the draw as Spain's Rafael Nadal, who defeated him in the semi-finals at Wimbledon in each of the last two years.

Before the semifinals, Murray can meet seeds including Canada's Milos Raonic and South Africa's Kevin Anderson.

The furthest Davydenko, now ranked 47, has gone at Wimbledon is the fourth round in 2007. He trails Murray 4-5 in head-to-heads, although their last meeting was in 2009 and they have never played on grass.

Elsewhere, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic plays former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first round, while six-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer has been drawn against 43rd-ranked Albert Ramos.

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt enters the main draw as a wildcard and has a daunting first-round match against world No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

In the women's draw, Maria Sharapova takes on Moscow-born Australian Anastasia Rodionova, while reigning champion Petra Kvitova gets Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova.

Venus Williams has been drawn against Russian doubles specialist Elena Vesnina, while her sister Serena has a first-round match with Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova of the Czech Republic. (IANS)