This French Open tuneup event also marks the return of Martina Hingis, who took a month off after defeating nemesis Lindsay Davenport to win the Ericsson Open in Miami.

Williams, the defending champion, has not played in a WTA Tour event since losing to Hingis in the semifinals of the season-ending Chase Championships in November. Overall, the 19-year-old American won six tournaments last season and finished 1999 ranked No. 3 in the world.

During her hiatus, Williams attended fashion school in Florida while her father Richard fueled speculation that she would retire at the end of the season to concentrate on her studies.

Williams won her first career claycourt title here last year by beating Mary Pierce, 6-0, 6-3. The American teenager is seeded second and received a bye into the second round.

Hingis, the top seed, will look to regain the No. 1 ranking from Davenport after losing it following the Ericsson Open. The Swiss teenager trails Davenport by only 27 points in the latest WTA rankings and has to at least reach the final here in order to move back into the top spot.

Hingis' victory over Davenport in the Ericsson Open final snapped a five-match losing streak to the American, but she will not have to deal with her rival at this event as Davenport will make her claycourt season debut in two weeks at Rome.

Despite leading the WTA Tour with 26 match wins this season, Hingis has only two tournament wins this season, also prevailing at Tokyo in February.

Former champions Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, who led their country into the Fed Cup semifinals over the weekend, are seeded third and fourth, respectively. Martinez won this event in 1995 and Sanchez-Vicario claimed the title here in 1994 and 1996.

Barbara Schett of Austria, who went 2-1 at the Fed Cup, is seeded fifth, followed by Anna Kournikova of Russia, who suffered through a horrible Fed Cup performance by going 0-3.

Rounding out the top eight seeds are Anke Huber of Germany, who claimed her first title in four years at Estoril, Portugal last month, and Amanda Coetzer of South Africa. Coetzer plays Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania in a first-round match today.

Pierce, who stormed through the draw to win the Family Circle Cup at Hilton Head, South Carolina two weeks ago, is taking the week off.

The top four seeds received first-round byes. First prize is $87,000.