Tough Wimbledon draw for Henman & Murray

Updated 16.20 Fri Jun 22 2007

Keywords: Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tim Henman, Andrew Murray, tennis, sport

Britain's top tennis player Andrew Murray will open his Wimbledon campaign against Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti provided that he can overcome his wrist injury.

The 20-year-old world number eight is not expected to make a final decision on whether he will play at the All England Club until Monday when the grasscourt Grand Slam tournament begins.

Andy Murray will open his Wimbledon campaign against Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti while Tim Henman has been drawn to play Carlos Moya

Should he be fit to play he knows that world number 63 Lapentti will be no pushover having reached the quarter-finals five years ago and he could meet British number two Tim Henman in the third round.

But Henman, who has not been seeded for the second year in a row, has been handed a similary tough first-round tie after being drawn to play former French Open champion Carlos Moya while British number three Alex Bogdanovic will meet Australia's Chris Guccione.

Defending champion Roger Federer will kick off his bid to emulate Bjorn Borg's feat of five successive titles against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili, who is ranked 85 in the world, while the man who beat him in the French Open final Rafael Nadal will be hoping to slice through Mardy Fish.

Second seed and world number three Andy Roddick, a two-time runner-up at the All England Club, will play Justin Gimelstob in an all-American first-round match at Wimbledon and could meet Murray in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, top women's seed Justine Henin, who is looking to claim her first title at the All England Club, will meet Argentinian qualifier Jorgelina Cravero in the first round.

The Belgian, who has just sealed a hat-trick of French Open titles, is on course to meet twice winner Serena Williams in the semi-finals.

Williams, the American world number seven, faces a simple opener against Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain, who was knocked out in the opening round of last year's championships.

Second seed Maria Sharapova has been handed a tougher opener against Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Tapei and is on course to meet compatriot Dinara Safina in the fourth round.

And fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo will begin her defence against American Jamea Jackson.