Top seed and world No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland returns from a three-week hiatus to get some matches in before defending her title in New York.

The 19-year-old Hingis has won a WTA Tour-leading seven tournaments this season, including the Australian Open, and has compiled a 64-10 record. Three of those losses have come at the hands of teenage rival Venus Williams, who defeated Hingis in the final of her homeland tournament in Zurich last month.

Hingis won this event in 1997 and lost to eventual champion Steffi Graf in last year's quarterfinals. She received a bye into the second round.

First-round play got under way today as eighth seed Julie Halard-Decugis of France defeated Spain's Conchita Martinez, 7-5, 6-2. Sixth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa takes on Lisa Raymond of the United States.

American Lindsay Davenport, the second seed here and last year's runner-up, will test her injured left wrist to see if she is fit to compete in New York. The reigning Wimbledon champion reaggravated the injury from earlier this year at Filderstadt, Germany last month and was forced to withdraw. Davenport has captured five titles this season and compiled a 50-9 record.

Davenport received a first-round bye and could face compatriot Alexandra Stevenson in the second round. Stevenson, who lost to Davenport in the Wimbledon semifinals, must get past 1994 champion Anke Huber of Germany in the first round tonight.

Williams, the third seed, collected her sixth title of the season with her victory over Hingis in Zurich. She also defeated Hingis in the semifinals at last month's Grand Slam Cup in Munich before falling to younger sister Serena in the final.

Venus watched Serena grab the spotlight in September by defeating Hingis in the U.S. Open final. The older Williams sister has yet to claim a Grand Slam title.

Fourth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France arrives on American soil fresh off claiming her second indoor title in three weeks at Leipzig, Germany on Sunday. Ranked No. 7 in the world, Tauziat also won the Ladies Kremlin Cup in Moscow three weeks ago.

Russian teenager Anna Kournikova is the fifth seed, followed by Coetzer, Dominique Van Roost of Belgium and Halard-Decugis.

Van Roost has a big first-round match with Russia's Elena Likhovtseva as the two vie for one of the two remaining spots in the 16-player field for the Chase Championships.

In matches involving unseeded players today, qualifier Maria Ventro of Venezuela defeated Romania's Irina Spirlea, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, and Henrietta Nagyova of the Czech Republic cruised past Dutchwomen Seda Noorlander, 6-0, 6-3.

American Jennifer Capriati, who is unseeded, enters this event with some momentum after winning her second title of the year Sunday at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada.

Capriati had gone six years without a title before claiming the crown at Strasbourg, France in May. She defeated Chanda Rubin in Sunday's final and has cracked the top 30 in the WTA rankings for the first time since 1997, after starting the year at No. 107.

Graf is not defending here title here after announcing her retirement in August.

First prize is $80,000.