French Open 2012: Andy Murray faces Japan's Tatsuma Ito in opener and could meet Rafa Nadal in semi-finals

Paris calling: Andy Murray will face Tatsuma Ito in the first round of Roland Garros

British No 1 Andy Murray has drawn Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the first round of the French Open, which gets under way on Sunday. 

Murray has never faced the world No 69 with Ito's best grand slam showing coming at this year's Australian Open where he suffered a second round defeat to Bernard Tomic.

A second-round match against either Jarkko Nieminen or Igor Andreev would await Murray, but from there things get considerably tougher for the world No 4.

Australian teenager Tomic and unorthodox Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov could await in rounds three and four, and tough Spaniard David Ferrer would have definitely been a man to avoid in the quarter-finals.

Murray must get through all that just to set up a semi-final rematch with Rafael Nadal, who beat him in straight sets 12 months ago.

Nadal, meanwhile, who warmed up for the second grand slam of the year with victory over Novak Djokovic at the Rome Masters, faces Italy's Simone Bolelli in his opener.

Djokovic will take on Italy's Potito Starace and could face former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the second round as he bids to become the first man in 43 years to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.

In the women's draw, British No 1 Elena Baltcha faces a tough opener against 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur while Anne Keothavong will take on Hungary's Melinda Czink.

World No 1 Victoria Azarenka begins against Italian Alberta Brianti while Maria Sharapova starts against Alexandra Cadantu of Romania.

Defending champion Li Na starts against Romania's Sorana Cirstea.