11 June 2013 | Tennis West

Four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt will be aiming for a much-needed run of matches when he begins his 13th Queen’s Club tennis tournament.

Hewitt – one of four Australians in the Queen’s Club draw – is third up on centre court on Monday night in his opening-round encounter with American Michael Russell.

It will be Hewitt’s first match since going down in five sets to France’s Gilles Simon in the opening round of the French Open and the 32-year-old veteran is short on tournament play heading toward Wimbledon which starts in a fortnight.

It will be the third time 2002 Wimbledon champion Hewitt and Russell have met on the ATP Tour, with Hewitt winning both previous encounters.

The Australian has has a great record on the Queen’s Club grass, winning three years in a row from 2000-02 and again in 2006.

Countryman Marinko Matosevic also opens his account on Monday night, taking on Dane Frederik Nielsen.

If Matosevic can make the third round, he is set to face top seed Andy Murray.

Qualifier Samuel Groth will play Czech 12th seed Lukas Rosol, while Bernard Tomic takes on Germany’s Benjamin Becker in the first round on Tuesday.

Groth and Tomic will meet each other in the second round if they can get past their first-round opponents.

Meanwhile, Casey Dellacqua has qualified for the main draw of the WTA grasscourt event in Birmingham.

The Australian straight-setted Russia’s Vera Dushevina and Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in qualifying to set up an opening round match with Slovak former world No.5 Daniela Hantuchova.

Dellacqua made the third round of the Birmingham tournament in 2012.