Agassi, who edged Todd Martin in a five-set final last year, was seeded No. 1 at America's premier tennis tournament for only the second time in his career. He was the top seed in 1995 when he lost the title match to Pete Sampras, and he was unseeded when he won the U.S. Open in 1994.

Agassi being seeded No. 1 makes it the ninth consecutive year an American has been top-seeded in the men's singles.

Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten, the reigning French Open champion, received the No. 2 seeding, joining Marcelo Rios of Chile (1998) and Guillermo Vilas of Argentina (1975) as the only South Americans to be seeded as high as No. 2 in U.S. Open history.

Hingis, who has played in the last three women's singles finals, is seeded No. 1 for a fourth consecutive year. Lindsay Davenport, the 1998 winner, is seeded No. 2 for a third consecutive year, while Wimbledon champion Venus Williams is seeded No. 3 for a second straight year.

Reigning French Open champion Mary Pierce of France rounds out the seeded fourth, followed by defending women's champion Serena Williams.

Jennifer Capriati is seeded No. 15, her first U.S. Open seeding since 1993.

The seedings were made directly from the Aug. 21 Sanex WTA Tour rankings and ATP Tour Entry System.

Following Agassi and Kuerten in the men's rankings are: Norman, Sampras, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin, Thomas Enqvist, Alex Corretja, Lleyton Hewitt, Cedric Pioline, Tim Henman, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Franco Squillari, Nicolas Kiefer, Mark Philippoussis and Nicolas Lapentti.

Monica Seles is seeded sixth in the women's singles, followed by Conchita Martinez, Nathalie Tauziat, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Anke Huber, Sandrine Testud, Anna Kournikova, Amanda Coetzer, Dominique Van Roost, Capriati and Julie Halard-Decugis.