Venus and Serena Williams have combined to win four titles since mid-February but the sisters are not among the field at this week's $1.05 million Family Circle Cup. Venus defeated Serena Sunday in the finals of the Lipton Championships.

The last players other than the Williams sisters to capture a tournament crown were Jana Novotna at the Faber Grand Prix in Germany and Fabiola Zuluaga at the Copa Colsanitas in Colombia on February 21.

Serena Williams was entered but later withdrew from the year's first claycourt event. World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and fellow American Mary Joe Fernandez also withdrew. Davenport strained her left wrist at the Lipton while Fernandez re-aggravated a right wrist injury.

The top seed is Martina Hingis of Switzerland, who has not claimed a title since defeating Amanda Coetzer in the Pan Pacific Open in Japan on February 7. It was her second consecutive triumph, having won her third straight Australian Open title the week before. She has lost in the quarterfinals of her last three events (Paris Open, Evert Cup, and Lipton Championships).

Making her first appearance at Hilton Head since earning the title here in 1997, Hingis will play the winner of today's match between Sylvia Plischke of Austria and Germany's Barbara Rittner.

Monica Seles of the United States, who lost to Hingis in the final two years ago, will try to rebound from a fourth-round loss to Serena Williams at the Lipton Championships. The second-seeded American has not reached a final this year.

In the second round, Seles will take on either Belarussian wild card Olga Barabanschikova or American Kristina Brandi, who play Tuesday.

Novotna is seeded third. The Czech Republic native was a quarterfinal loser at both the Evert Cup and the Lipton Championships. She lost in the third round here last year to Spain's Magui Serna. Her second-round foe will be the winner of today's match between Catalina Cristea of Romania and Czech qualifier Adriana Gersi.

Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, the 1996 champion, is the fourth seed, followed by defending champion Coetzer, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, Russian Anna Kournikova, and Australian Open finalist Amelie Mauresmo of France. The top eight seeds received first-round byes.

Six of the next eight seeds were in action today. No. 9 Irina Spirlea of Romania, last year's runner-up, swept past Israel's Anna Smashnova, 7-5, 6-3, and 10th seed and two-time champion Conchita Martinez of Spain crushed Italy's Alexandra Fusai, 6-0, 6-0.

No. 11 Natasha Zvereva of Belarus rolled past Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-1; 12th-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria defeated Luxembourg's Anne Kremer, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); Germany's Andrea Glass surprised Serna, the 15th seed, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3; and No. 16 Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia outlasted Zuluaga, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4.

First prize is $150,000.