Australian Open: Heather Watson will take on Tsvetana Pironkova in round one in Melbourne

Britain's Heather Watson will start her Australian Open campaign against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

And Watson could face a second round clash against last year’s runner up Dominka Cibulkova if she can win her opening encounter.

Watson has been in good form at the Hobart International this week and will be hopeful of defeating World No 67 and former Wimbledon semi-finalist Pironkova, who was knocked out at the round of 32 stage in Brisbane last week.

Cibulkova will face Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in her first round encounter.

Serena Williams is the top seed and she will begin her quest for a sixth title at Melbourne Park with a match against Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium.

Second seed Maria Sharapova won the title in 2008 and will start her campaign against a qualifier while third seed Simona Halep, who will be looking for her first ever Grand Slam title, starts against Karin Knapp of Italy.

Victoria Azarenka is a dual Australian Open champion but she is unseeded after her 2014 season was ruined by injury and will be a hugely dangerous floater in the draw.

She faces young American Sloane Stephens in what could be a classic first round match and will square off against Williams if they both make the quarter-finals.

Former World No 1 Caroline Wozniacki is also in that section of the draw and whoever emerges from that tough quarter may have to face Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals.

Eugenie Bouchard did well at the Grand Slams last season and is a possible opponent for Sharapova in the last eight, while Ana Ivanovic is a candidate to emerge from the other quarter in that half of the draw after reaching the final in Brisbane last week.

Selected First Round ties:

1-Serena Williams (USA) v Alison Van Uytvanck (Bel)

11-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) v Kirsten Flipkens (Bel)

Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) v Heather Watson (Gbr)

Sloane Stephens (USA) v Victoria Azarenka (Blr)

Taylor Townsend (USA) v 8-Caroline Wozniacki (Den)

4-Petra Kvitova (Cze) v Qualifier

20-Samantha Stosur (Aus) v Monica Niculescu (Rom)

Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (Esp) v 18-Venus Williams (USA)

Kurumi Nara (Jpn) v 6-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol)

5-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) v Qualifier

An-Sophie Mestach (Bel) v 10-Ekaterina Makarova (Rus)

14-Sara Errani (Ita) v Grace Min (USA)

28-Sabine Lisicki (Ger) v Kristina Mladenovic (Fra)

Karin Knapp (Ita) v 3-Simona Halep (Rom)

7-Eugenie Bouchard (Can) v Anna-Lena Friedsam (Ger)

Caroline Garcia (Fra) v 27-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)

Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom) v 9-Angelique Kerber (Ger)

16-Lucie Safarova (Cze) v Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz)

Qualifier v 2-Maria Sharapova (Rus)