Marcos Baghdatis starts the new tennis season against local wild card entrant Benjamin Mitchell in the first round of the ATP World Tour 250 Brisbane International, aiming to prove his place is among the Top 20 world players.

The 27-year old Cypriot, who will be ranked 36th at the beginning of the new year, has never played against the young Australian who turned pro in 2008, and whose highest ranking was 209th two years ago.

If Baghdatis overcomes Mitchell, he will then face the winner of the match between sixth-seeded German Florian Mayer and Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, with the potential quarterfinal opponent being third-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Baghdatis reached the quarters of the event in both 2012 and 2011, but was fairly easily defeated at that stage by Andy Murray and now retired Andy Roddick in straight sets respectively.

The Cypriot number one will also take part in the doubles competition where, alongside Finn Jarkko Nieminen, he will take on third-seeded Colombian duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the first round.

Baghdatis played 25 tournaments in 2012 and holds 1,070 points, out of which he will have to defend the first 45 in Brisbane.

After the Brisbane event, Baghdatis will travel directly to Melbourne, skipping the Sydney tournament, since he wants to give himself some additional time to adapt to the newly-reconstructed facilities at the Australian Open.