Andy Murray: Gets first round bye at Queen's

Defending champion Andy Murray could face Czech Radek Stepanek in his second match at the Aegon Championships, which starts at Queen's on Monday.

Murray, who last year became the first Briton to win the men's singles at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, has a bye in the first round at Queen's.

The draw announced on Sunday for the traditional Wimbledon grasscourt warm-up event pits the third seed against the winner of Paul-Henri Mathieu or Aljaz Bedene.

But if successful in his opening match, he could face either former world No 8 Stepanek or Australia's Bernard Tomic in the third round.

No 2 seed and world No 6 Tomas Berdych and six seed Ernests Gulbis also feature in Murray's half of the draw.

Murray will be looking to bounce back from his crushing 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 loss on clay to world number one Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the French Open in Paris.

Queen's top seed Stanislas Wawrinka also gets a bye, along with the other top eight seeds, but would face the 2006 Wimbledon semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis if the Cypriot gets past Bradley Klein in round one.

Former Queen's finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is in the top half of the draw with Wawrinka and could face the young Austrian prospect Dominic Thiem in the second round if he defeats the Belgian David Goffin.

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, a former Queen's champion, faces Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver.