French Open
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Date: 23 May-6 June
Coverage: Live video streamed from 1000 BST on BBC Sport website (UK only) and BBC red button; commentary on BBC 5 live sports extra; also live on Eurosport; text commentary on BBC Sport website Details of BBC coverage

By Piers Newbery BBC Sport at Roland Garros

Andy Murray will find himself the centre of attention as early as day two of the French Open when he takes on Richard Gasquet in the pick of the first-round matches.

The Briton, seeded fourth, received arguably the toughest draw possible when he was pitted against the talented and currently in-form Frenchman.

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams all open their campaigns on a star-studded first Monday of the tournament, but none are expected to face a sterner examination than Murray when he plays Gasquet in the third match on Court Suzanne Lenglen at about 1300 BST.

Gasquet, 23 years old like Murray, has won his last 10 matches, all on clay, as he picked up a Challenger title in Bordeaux and, on Saturday, beat world number nine Fernando Verdasco to take the ATP event in Nice.

He appears to be rediscovering the form that once made him a top 10 player and, in his junior days, saw him touted as a future world number one.

Gasquet's career came to a shuddering halt last year when he was provisionally banned after a positive test for cocaine, but he had that decision overturned on appeal as it was found he took the drug inadvertently while kissing a girl in a Miami nightclub.

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To add further motivation, the last time he played Murray was in an epic tie at Wimbledon two years ago that saw the Frenchman let a two-set lead slip as the British crowd finally took to their number one player.

This time Gasquet will have the Parisian crowd behind him, although that has not always worked in his favour in the past.

In six visits to Roland Garros he has managed just four victories, and he has not won a match at any Grand Slam since the second round of the Australian Open in 2009.

Murray's form was poor for the three months that followed his run to the Australian Open final in January, but he has shown signs of rediscovering his game in recent weeks and, as the world number four and a quarter-finalist last year, should remain the favourite against the world number 68.

"It's a very tough match, Gasquet's one of the most talented guys on the tour," Murray told BBC Sport.

"He's been in the top 10 in the last few years. He's had a few issues in the last year but he's starting to play well again now so it's definitely one of the toughest matches I could have had.

"It could be a good thing and really get me focused from my first match. I'm going to need to play very, very well to win against him."

Should Murray triumph, he will play Juan Ignacio Chela after the Argentine completed a 6-0 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory over American wildcard Ryan Sweeting in his first round match.

Murray's fellow Scot and British number one Elena Baltacha has a similarly testing first match against eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the third match on Court Three.

Baltacha, ranked 62nd, is no lover of clay and won just three games in her only previous meeting with Radwanska on hard courts in Dubai two years ago.

The 26-year-old also had to pull out of last week's tournament in Strasbourg with back trouble, but told BBC Sport: "It has recovered. I've been getting a lot of treatment and I'm fully fit and ready to go."

She added: "It's a very difficult first-round draw but I'm really, really looking forward to it. I'm not expected to win but in a way matches like that are good because you can relax and really play some good tennis.

"I'm playing really well, I had a fantastic win last week against Sorana Cirstea - the number 34 in the world - on clay and I'm going to go into the match high in confidence and see what kind of damage I can cause."

Monday's play opens on Court Philippe Chatrier with third seed Caroline Wozniacki up against Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva, followed by Federer against Australian Peter Luczak before Williams takes on Swiss Stefanie Voegele.

Third seed Djokovic plays Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan in the second match on Court Suzanne Lenglen before Jelena Jankovic faces Australia's Alicia Molik.

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