Gunning for her fourth straight Australian Open title, Hingis will take on Croatian teenager Mirjana Lucic as the top seed in the opening round as the draw for next week's first Grand Slam event of the season was announced Friday (Thursday night in the United States).

Agassi, who won two Grand Slam titles last season en route to his first year-end No. 1 ranking, should get past Mariano Puerta of Argentina in the first round. After that, things could get interesting.

Agassi's top half of the star-studded draw features an array of talent, including fellow Americans Pete Sampras and Todd Martin, 1999 runner-up Thomas Enqvist of Sweden and heavy hitters Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands and Mark Philippoussis of Australia.

"There is so much firepower in the top half," Australian Open chief executive Paul McNamee said.

Defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia headlines the bottom half of the draw. He is seeded second and will battle Jens Knippschild of Germany in the opening round.

With last year's victory over Amelie Mauresmo of France, Hingis became the first female since Monica Seles in 1991-93 to win three straight Australian Open titles. Another title in Melbourne would make her the first since Evonne Goolagong in 1974-77 to capture four consecutive women's crowns.

Lucic advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal last year at Wimbledon before losing to the legendary Steffi Graf. In Hingis, Lucic will be meeting a friend and occasional doubles partner who joined forces to win the Australian Open doubles title in 1998.

Hingis could face No. 12 Sandrine Testud of France in the fourth round with sixth seed Barbara Schett of Austria and No. 13 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain down the road as potential quarterfinal opponents.

Looming for Hingis in the semifinals is teenage rival Serena Williams of the United States, who defeated Hingis in last year's U.S. Open final for her first Grand Slam title. Williams, who replaced injured older sister Venus as the third seed, will take on Australian wild card Amanda Grahame.

Schett will meet American Meilen Tu in the opening round. Testud will battle Petra Mandula of Hungary and Sanchez-Vicario will play Julia Abe of Germany.

Eighth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, who goes against Tatiana Panova of Russia in the first round, could meet Williams in the quarterfinals. Other seeds in Williams' quarter of the draw are 1998 finalist Conchita Martinez of Spain and No. 16 Elena Likhovtseva of Russia. Martinez, seeded 10th, plays Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic and Likhovtseva takes on Pavlina Nola of Bulgaria.

American Lindsay Davenport, the second seed, could avenge her semifinal loss to Mauresmo as the two are at opposite ends of the draw's bottom half. Davenport will take on Sarah Pitkowski of France in the opening round and Mauresmo, seeded seventh, will face Cristina Torrens-Valero of Spain.

Also in Davenport's quarter are fifth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France, ninth seed Julie Halard-Decugis of France and No. 11 Anna Kournikova of Russia.

Seeds in Mauresmo's quarter are 1997 runner-up and No. 4 Mary Pierce of France, No. 14 Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, 1996 finalist and No. 15 Anke Huber of Germany. The bracket also includes rejuvenated American Jennifer Capriati.

Capriati, who won two titles last season and is in the midst of a career resurgence, could face Van Roost in the second round if she gets past Barbara Schwartz of Austria.

Agassi has Martin, Krajicek and Philippoussis in his quarter. Martin, who lost to Agassi in last year's U.S. Open final, is seeded eighth and will take on Byron Black of Zimbabwe in the first round.

Krajicek, seeded ninth, has a tough opening-round opponent in Fabrice Santoro of France, who won a tuneup event in Doha, Qatar last week. Philippoussis, who is considered one of the favorites to win the title in his hometown, is seeded No. 16 and will take on a qualifier.

Sampras begins his bid for a third Australian Open title and a record 13th Grand Slam title against hard-serving Australian Wayne Arthurs.

Seeded third, Sampras missed last year's Australian Open as part of an early-season hiatus due to mental and physical fatigue. He also missed the U.S. Open and much of last fall's indoor season due to a bad back but came back to defeat Agassi to win the ATP Tour World Championship at season's end.

Arthurs made a name for himself at last year's Wimbledon, when he went through the qualifying draw and advanced to the fourth round of the main draw without losing his serve. He also helped his country advance to last year's Davis Cup final.

Sampras could face Enqvist in the quarterfinals and if he and Agassi survive, the Americans would resume their rivalry in the semifinals. Enqvist, who advanced to his first Grand Slam final here last year, is seeded sixth and will face Australia's Richard Fromberg in the opening round.

No. 11 Tim Henman of Britain and No.14 Karol Kucera of Slovakia also are in Sampras' quarter. Kafelnikov's toughest challenges in his quarter could come from 1999 semifinalists Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador and Tommy Haas of Germany. Lapentti is seeded seventh and Haas 10th.

Fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and fifth seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil are possible opponents for Kafelnikov in the semifinals. Kiefer will take on Guillermo Canas of Argentina in the first round and Kuerten looks to bounce back from his opening-round loss this week in Sydney as he goes against Albert Portas of Spain. No. 12 Magnus Norman of Sweden and No. 13 Cedric Pioline of France also are in that quarter.

The Australian Open begins Monday (Sunday night in the United States).