With two-time defending champion Venus Williams a late scratch due to tendinitis in both wrists, the focus on the women's side will be Davenport's quest for the No. 1 ranking which Hingis has held since August 9.

The story in the men's draw is whether American Andre Agassi can bounce back from consecutive losses after winning his first 10 matches of the season.

Davenport has played like the No. 1 player in the world over the early part of the season, especially with her domination of Hingis in their head-to-head confrontations.

The American beat Hingis to win the Australian Open in January and defeated the world No. 1 for the fifth straight time overall by rallying for a three-set win in the final of the Tennis Masters Series at Indian Wells, California on Saturday.

Davenport has gotten off to the best start of her career with a 19-1 record and has reached six straight finals, dating to last season. She trails Hingis by only 191 points in this week's WTA Tour rankings and whether she can seize the top spot at the conclusion of this tournament depends on who advances further in the 96-player draw.

Mary Pierce of France, who has reached the semifinals in her last two events, is seeded third on the women's side, followed by countrywoman Nathalie Tauziat.

Serena Williams, the fifth seed, returns to the site where she lost to sister Venus, 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, in last year's highly-anticipated final.

Serena Williams has compiled a 13-3 record in 2000, reaching the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris before claiming her first title of the season a week later at the Faber Grand Prix in Hannover, Germany. The American teenager is coming off a quarterfinal loss to Pierce at Indian Wells.

Rounding out the top eight seeds are Conchita Martinez of Spain, two-time champion Monica Seles of the United States and Julie Halard-Decugis of France.

Anna Kournikova of Russia, the 1998 runner-up, is seeded ninth, followed by two-time champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, Barbara Schett of Austria, Sandrine Testud of France and Jennifer Capriati of the United States, who has lost two of her last three matches after reaching the Australian Open semifinals.

No. 14 Anke Huber of Germany will look to break out of a slump which has seen her lose six of her first seven matches this season. Elena Likhovtseva of Russia is the 15th seed and Dominique Van Roost of Belgium completes the top 16 seeds.

Venus Williams has suffered from her nagging wrist problems since December and has not played a tournament this season.

"I am very disappointed not to be defending my title here in Miami," Venus Williams said. "I have had a lot of success there over the last two years but my wrists are still not 100 percent, and my main goal right now is getting back to playing tournament tennis again."

Agassi, the top seed, looked invincible early in 2000, winning his third Grand Slam title in less than a year with his triumph in Australia. However, his season has taken a downward spiral after appearing out of sync in back-to-back losses at Scottsdale, Arizona and Indian Wells.

A three-time champion here (1990, 1995-96), Agassi hopes to have a longer stay in Florida than he did last year, when he lost in the second round to Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.

Pete Sampras, seeded second, hopes to bounce back from his quarterfinal showing at Indian Wells. The American struggled in his return from a back injury last week, needing three sets to pull out second and third-round victories before losing to eventual runner-up Thomas Enqvist of Sweden in the quarters.

Sampras, a two-time champion, also was hampered by a strained hip flexor suffered in a semifinal loss to Agassi at the Australian Open which forced him out of the first round of the Davis Cup. Overall, the 12-time Grand Slam champion has compiled a 9-2 record this season.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, a second-round loser at Indian Wells, is seeded third, followed by Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and Magnus Norman of Sweden. Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, Enqvist and Marcelo Rios of Chile round out the top eight seeds.

Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, a semifinalist at Indian Wells, is seeded ninth and Tim Henman of Britain and Cedric Pioline of France are seeded No. 10 and 11, respectively.

Alex Corretja of Spain, who won his first singles title in over a year at Indian Wells, is the 12th seed. Countryman Albert Costa, Australians Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter and Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco complete the top 16 seeds.

Defending champion Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands is not playing due to injury. Krajicek defeated Sebastien Grosjean, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-5, in last year's final.

The top 32 seeds in both the men's and women's draw received byes into the second round.

This event had been sponsored by Lipton since its inception in 1985 before Ericsson, a telecommunications company, took over its sponsorship this year.

First prize for the men's champion is $410,000, while the women's champion pockets $350,000.