Yet again at the Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt faces the roadblock that keeps turning him into roadkill.

World No.1 Roger Federer looms once more as the biggest hurdle to Hewitt finally winning his home grand slam, with the pair potentially facing a fourth round meeting after Friday’s men’s singles draw.

Federer has beaten Hewitt the past 14 times they have met – most recently in the third round of the US Open last year and also at the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2008.

Hewitt was last beaten by Federer at Melbourne Park in the fourth round in 2004, and the 29-year-old hasn’t made it past the Open fourth round since making the final in 2005.

Any possible meeting with Federer this time around would come after a likely third round match-up with another familiar foe, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

Baghdatis beat Hewitt at this week’s Sydney International, and their now legendary clash at Melbourne Park two years ago finished at sunrise.

Hewitt will play a yet-to-be-determined qualifier in the first round.

But with Federer hovering with intent, former world No.1 John McEnroe doesn’t believe that will matter overall for the Australian.

“It’s tough at this stage to play Roger – I don’t know at this stage whether his (Hewitt’s) game’s going to match up well enough,” said McEnroe, these days a television commentator.

“It’s pretty tough to stay with Federer if he gets hot.

“With his record it’s hard to say Roger Federer’s not going to get to the semis – he’s got something like 22 times in a row of getting to the semis or better.”

Federer has a tricky first round match of his own, taking on world No.37 Igor Andreev of Russia – who just missed out on a seeding.

Hewitt isn’t the only key Australian finding a landmine early in the draw.

The nation’s top ranked woman Samantha Stosur also faces the current world No.1 Serena Williams as a fourth round match-up, but does play a qualifier in the first round.

At least their troubles lie deeper in the tournament than popular Aussie Peter Luczak.

He takes on defending men’s singles champion and world No.2 Rafael Nadal in a horror first round draw.

Several other Australians fared better with their first round opponents.

Teenager Bernard Tomic plays a qualifier, while Casey Dellacqua takes on Anastasiya Yakimoro of Belarus, who is ranked outside the world’s top 100 women.

Another Australian on the comeback trail, Alicia Molik, plays world No.75 Julie Coin of France.

But Jelena Dokic faces a challenging first-up assignment against Russian 27th seed Alisa Kleybanova.

Tournament director Craig Tiley said decisions on which matches would be scheduled in the prized prime-time centre court slots on Monday and Tuesday would not be made until after qualifying was completed at the weekend.

“We’ll go away and make some decisions on the top half and bottom half (of the draw) but we’ll wait some until the final round of qualifying because that’s important to know when we make the decisions on who plays,” Tiley said.

© AAP 2012

Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.