World No. 1 and six-time defending champion Rafael Nadal could face French No. 13 seed Richard Gasquet in an early test at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Home hope Gasquet, who famously beatRoger Federer en route to the 2005 semi-finals, is seeded to meet the Spaniard in the third round.

The 24-year-old Nadal is chasing a 19th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and is unbeaten in his past 32 matches at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, which hosts the first event of the European clay-court swing. The Mallorcan has a bye through the first round and will open his campaign against either a qualifier or Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen.

World No. 2 Federer also faces early challenges as he opens his campaign against either Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev or Germany’sPhilipp Kohlschreiber. The Swiss is seeded to meet No. 15 Marin Cilic in the third round, with the prospect of No. 7 Jurgen Melzer or No. 9 Nicolas Almagro in the quarter-finals.