Gunning for her fourth straight Australian Open title, the top-seeded Hingis takes on Croatian teenager Mirjana Lucic. Kafelnikov, seeded second, kicks off the action on center court against Jens Knippschild of Germany.

Two of tennis' rising stars also will be on display as reigning U.S. Open champion Serena Williams of the United States and red-hot Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt take the court for their opening-round matches.

Williams, seeded third, begins her bid for a second straight Grand Slam title against Amanda Grahame of Australia. Hewitt, who is unseeded, will put his 10-0 season record on the line against former collegiate standout Paul Goldstein of the United States.

Hingis is looking to become the first female to win four consecutive titles in Melbourne since Margaret Smith captured seven straight from 1960-66.

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.

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

Kafelnikov won his second career Grand Slam title here last year, defeating Sweden's Thomas Enqvist in the final. He enters Melbourne having not won a match in 2000.

Williams captured her first Grand Slam singles title last season in New York, knocking off American Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals before defeating Hingis in the final. She will look to become the seventh player in the Open Era to win the U.S. Open and Australian Open in succession.

Hewitt, 18, won consecutive homeland tournaments in Adelaide and Sydney and leads the ATP Tour Champions Race 2000 points standings.

In other men's seeded action, fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany meets Guillermo Canas of Argentina; fifth seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil faces Albert Portas of Spain; and seventh seed Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, a semifinalist last year, battles 1999 French Open finalist Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine.

Another 1999 semifinalist, 10th seed Tommy Haas of Germany, takes on French qualifier Cyril Saulnier; No. 12 Magnus Norman of Sweden, fresh off winning last week's Heineken Open in New Zealand, plays American Cecil Mamiit; No. 13 Cedric Pioline of France battles hard-serving Croatian Goran Ivanisevic; and No. 15 Albert Costa of Spain goes against Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus.

For the women, sixth seed Barbara Schett of Austria meets American Meilen Tu; eighth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa faces Tatiana Panova of Russia; and 1998 runner-up Conchita Martinez of Spain, seeded 10th, takes on Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic.

Also, No. 12 Sandrine Testud of France plays Petra Mandula of Hungary; No. 13 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain meets Julie Abe of Germany; and No. 16 Elena Likhovtseva of Russia plays Pavlina Nola of Bulgaria.