A lopsided draw could see top seed Spaniard Angeles Montolio, drawcards Anna Kournikova and Conchita Martinez, and defending champion Meilen Tu face a tough road to the final of the ASB Tennis Classic here in Auckland.
The top half of the draw for the $US140,000 ($NZ340,798) WTA tournament is notable for the absence of any qualifiers or wildcards.
If Montolio, ranked 23 in the world, overcomes her Russian first round opponent Alina Jidkova (ranked 107), she is likely to face former world No 36 Anna Smashnova.
Kournikova, in her comeback tournament from injury, faces Zimbabwe's Cara Black in the first round. If she wins, her likely second round opponent is American Amy Frazier, the tournament's seventh seed.
Kournikova could not recall having lost to Black, but still expected her first match after a long layoff to be tough.
"She's a tough player, always fighting, and runs for every ball. It's going to be a tough match. The first game of the year is always hard."
By contrast, in the lower half of the draw second seed and world number 25 Slovakian Henrieta Nagyova will face Czech Kveta Hrdlickova (ranked 86) in the first round, and third seed Anne Kremer, who won this tournament two years ago, will face New Zealand wildcard entrant Pavlina Nola.
The other New Zealand wildcard, Shelley Stephens, has a slightly easier route to the second round, drawn to face a qualifier.
In other match-ups, Conchita Martinez will play American Kristina Brandi, while defending champion Tu meets Tunisian player Selima Sfar.
Tu said she felt no pressure defending her title, even though she faces a tougher field than last year.
"I just want to concentrate on playing well and getting ready for the Australian Open," she said.
First round draw: (Prefix denotes seeding)
1-Angeles Montolio (Spain) vs Alina Jidkova (Russia); Anna Smashnova (Israel) vs Rachel McQuillan (Aus); Annabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) vs Miho Saeki (Japan); Selima Sfar (Tunisia) vs 6-Meilen Tu (USA); 4-Conchita Martinez (Spain) vs Kristina Brandi (USA); Janette Husarova (Slovakia) vs Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland); Anna Kournikova (Russia) vs Cara Black (Zimbabwe); Martina Sucha (Slovakia) vs 7-Amy Frazier (USA); 5-Tatiana Panova (Russia) vs qualifier; Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) vs Jennifer Hopkins (USA); qualifier vs SHELLEY STEPHENS (NZ); PAVLINA NOLA (NZ) vs 3-Anne Kremer (Luxembourg); 8-Mariana Diaz-Oliva vs qualifier; Maja Matevzic (Slovenia) vs Adriana Serra-Zanetti (Italy); Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) vs qualifier; Kveta Hrdlickova (Czech Republic) vs Henrieta Nagyova (Slovakia).