Murray is back in the world's top 10 after his Qatar Open success

The ninth seed, whose match is third on the Rod Laver Arena, will be wary of the 38th-ranked Frenchman, who ended Tim Henman's career at the US Open.

Defending men's champion Roger Federer, who is not in Murray's side of the draw, faces Argentine Diego Hartfield.

Top women's seed Justine Henin plays Aiko Nakamura, while 2007 champion Serena Williams meets Jarmila Gaidsova.

Federer, who is aiming to become the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Open crowns, is expected to be fit to play despite having to pull out of a warm-up tournament in Kooyong this week because of a virus.

Third seed Novak Djokovic is the Swiss star's projected semi-final opponent, though Argentine David Nalbandian, who beat Federer twice at the end of last year, is also in his half of the draw.

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on The Australian Open

Second seed Rafael Nadal, number six Andy Roddick, eighth seed Richard Gasquet and Murray are all in the opposite half.

Nadal and Roddick will both play qualifiers in the first round.

Murray's preparations for the tournament suffered a setback when he was beaten 6-4 6-1 by Russia's Marat Safin in the round-robin Kooyong Classic event in Melbourne on Wednesday.

But the 20-year-old responded with a 6-7 6-4 6-2 win over world number 17 Ivan Ljubicic on Thursday and a straight-sets defeat of 18-year-old Australian Brydan Klein on Friday.

And the Scot insists he will not be taking Tsonga's challenge lightly, saying: "Hopefully I'll come through it and then start to look at the draw a little bit.

"But when you've got a first-round match like that, you are not going to look past someone as tough as him.

"He beat (Lleyton) Hewitt pretty convincingly in Adelaide and made the semis there, so he has obviously started the year well."

When you've got a first-round match like that, you are not going to look past someone as tough as him Murray on his first-round match against Tsonga

Murray has met Tsonga on two previous occasions - Murray won in 2007 in the quarter-finals on his way to the final in Metz while Tsonga triumphed at a futures event in Nottingham in 2004.

Tsonga was knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round in 2007, losing to Andy Roddick in four sets.

In the women's draw, Henin will not meet another top 10 player until a potential quarter-final match with last year's losing finalist Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova could meet former World number one Lindsey Davenport in the second round.

Davenport is unseeded but has won three WTA titles since returning to the tour following the birth of her first child last year.

Seedings for the Australian Open are based on ATP and WTA world rankings.

Australian Open seedings:

Men's:

1. Roger Federer (SUI)
2. Rafael Nadal (ESP)
3. Novak Djokovic (SRB)
4. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
5. David Ferrer (ESP)
6. Andy Roddick (USA)
7. Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)
8. Richard Gasquet (FRA)
9. Andy Murray (GBR)
10. David Nalbandian (ARG)
11. Tommy Robredo (ESP)
12. James Blake (USA)
13. Tomas Berdych (CZE)
14. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)
15. Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
16. Carlos Moya (ESP)
17. Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)
18. Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)
19. Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
20. Ivo Karlovic (CRO)
21. Juan Monaco (ARG)
22. Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)
23. Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)
24. Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
25. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
26. Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
27. Nicolas Almagro (ESP)
28. Gilles Simon (FRA)
29. Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
30. Radek Stepanek (CZE)
31. Igor Andreev (RUS)
32. Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)

Women's:

1. Justine Henin (BEL)
2. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
3. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
4. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
5. Maria Sharapova (RUS)
6. Anna Chakvetadze (RUS)
7. Serena Williams (USA)
8. Venus Williams (USA)
9. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)
10. Marion Bartoli (FRA)
11. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
12. Nicole Vaidisova (CZE)
13. Tatiana Golovin (FRA)
14. Nadia Petrova (RUS)
15. Patty Schnyder (SUI)
16. Dinara Safina (RUS)
17. Shahar Peer (ISR)
18. Amelie Mauresmo (FRA)
19. Sybille Bammer (AUT)
20. Agnes Szavay (HUN)
21. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)
22. Lucie Safarova (CZE)
23. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
24. Li Na (CHN)
25. Francesca Schiavone (ITA)
26. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
27. Maria Kirilenko (RUS)
28. Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)
29. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
30. Virginie Razzano (FRA)
31. Sania Mirza (IND)
32. Julia Vakulenko (UKR)