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Lleyton Hewitt’s 17th Australian Open will kick off with a prime-time clash with Serb eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic on Monday night at Rod Laver Arena.
The 31-year-old former No.1 will be one of two locals in action on the main show court at Melbourne Park on the opening day of Australian Open 2013, with women’s ninth seed Samantha Stosur taking on Kai-Chen Chang of Chinese Taipei in the middle match of the day session.
Maria Sharapova, the 2008 women’s champion and a finalist last year, will open proceedings on Rod Laver Arena in the day session against Russia’s Olga Puchkova, while defending men’s champion and top seed Novak Djokovic will take on Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final match of the day session.
In the second match of the night session, women’s 13th seed Ana Ivanovic will start her AO 2013 campaign against Hungary’s Melinda Czink.
Venus Williams will open matches on Hisense Arena when she plays Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan in her first round match, while men’s 22nd seed Fernando Verdasco, Australian teen Ash Barty and men’s fourth seed David Ferrer also feature on the Hisense Arena schedule.
Women’s sixth seed Li Na of China, Australian women Bojana Bobusic (who plays fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska) and Casey Dellacqua, compatriot Matthew Ebden and Australian Open 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis will all feature on Margaret Court Arena on the opening day of the tournament.