Agassi was seeded second when he beat fellow American Todd Martin in a thrilling five-set final last year. He was the top seed here in 1995, when he reached the final but lost to Pete Sampras. Agassi won the 1994 U.S. Open title as an unseeded player.

This marks the ninth straight year an American is the top-seeded men's player. Jim Courier started the streak in 1992 and 1993 and Sampras was the No. 1 player for the previous four years as well as in 1994.

However, this time Sampras has been bumped to the fourth seed. The reigning Wimbledon champion currently ranks third in the ATP Champions points race behind Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and Magnus Norman of Sweden.

Kuerten, the reigning French Open champion, is seeded second and joins Marcel Rios of Chile (1998) and Guillermo Vilas of Argentina (1975) as the only South Americans to be seeded that high.

Norman is seeded third followed by Sampras and Russians Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin.

Hingis, the U.S. Open champion in 1997 and a finalist each of the last two years, earned the top seed here for the fourth straight year.

American Lindsay Davenport, the 1998 champion, is seeded second for the third consecutive year.

Defending champion Serena Williams is seeded fifth. She won her first Grand Slam tournament in impressive fashion last year, beating Monica Seles in the quarterfinals, Davenport in the semis and Hingis in the finals.

Serena's sister Venus Williams, the reigning Wimbledon champion, is seeded third, French Open champion Mary Pierce of France is fourth and Seles is sixth. Seles won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1990-91 and was runner-up in 1995-96.

Agassi has been bothered by back problems since he was involved in a car accident on July 8. However, he appeared to be in prime form at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, winning four matches without dropping a set before losing in Sunday's final to Alex Corretja of Spain, 6-2, 6-3. Agassi captured his sixth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

Thomas Enqvist of Sweden is seeded seventh among the men followed by Corretja, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, Cedric Pioline of France, Tim Henman of Britain, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, Franco Squillari of Argentina, Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, Mark Philippoussis of Australia and Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador. Pioline beat Kuerten in the quarterfinals before he fell to Martin last year.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter is not seeded among the men's players.

Conchita Martinez of Spain is the seventh seed for the women, followed by Nathalie Tauziat of France and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, the 1994 champion.

Anke Huber of Germany, a quarterfinalist last year, is the women's No. 10 seed followed by Sandrine Testud of France, Anna Kournikova of Russia, Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, American Jennifer Capriati and Julie Halard-Decugis of France.

The draw will be held Wednesday at the USTA National Tennis Center.