Venus and Serena were scheduled to square off in the semifinals at last week's Tennis Masters Series at Indian Wells. But just before they were going to take the court, Venus suddenly withdrew with right knee tendinitis.

The last-minute withdrawal left the fans in attendance miffed and raised questions about whether Richard Williams, the father and coach of the Williams sisters, made the decision not to have them compete against each other.

The bitterness from the crowd carried over to the women's final on Saturday, when Serena Williams received a chorus of boos throughout her match with Belgium's Kim Clijsters. Serena Williams was able to overcome the hostile crowd, and Clijsters, and prevailed in three sets for her first title of the year.

Venus apparently will test her knee as she goes for her third title here in four years. A winner of back-to-back titles in 1998-99, she is seeded third.

Serena Williams is seeded fifth as she vies for her second straight singles title. She is on the opposite side of the draw from her sister, meaning the two would not meet until the final. Two years ago, Venus beat Serena for the title.

Top seed Martina Hingis returns to defend her title. Hingis fell short in reaching her sixth straight final this year as she lost to Clijsters in the semifinals at Indian Wells. The 20-year-old from Switzerland has captured a WTA Tour-leading three titles this season and has won 29 of 32 matches.

Hingis defeated Lindsay Davenport, 6-3, 6-2, in last year's final and also won this event as a 16-year-old in 1997.

Davenport, the second seed, is coming off what she called "one of the worst performances of my career." Looking to successfully defend her title at Indian Wells, she was dismissed by Serena Williams, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

Ranked second behind Hingis, Davenport has won titles this year at Tokyo and Scottsdale, Arizona and has compiled an 18-3 record.

Australian Open champion Jennifer Capriati, a Florida resident, rounds out the quartet of American seeds behind Hingis.

After defeating Hingis to claim her first Grand Slam title at Melbourne in January, Capriati reached the final at Oklahoma City before losing to Davenport in the semifinals at Scottsdale.

Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, fresh off winning the Mexican Open three weeks ago, is seeded sixth, and Elena Dementieva of Russia and Nathalie Tauziat of France round out the top eight seeds.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain is seeded ninth, followed by Anke Huber of Germany, Clijsters, Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria and Sandrine Testud of France. Justine Henin of Belgium, a winner of two titles this season; American Amy Frazier; and Austria's Barbara Schett complete the top 16 seeds.

On the men's side, Gustavo Kuerten, last year's runner-up, is the top seed. Kuerten had his 14-match winning streak snapped by American Jan-Micahel Gambill at Indian Wells.

The Brazilian lost a tight five-setter in last year's final to Pete Sampras of the United States.

Sampras, seeded fourth, appears to be in back in good shape to defend his title and try to win here for the fourth time. He snapped a three-match losing streak at Indian Wells and reached the final, losing to countryman Andre Agassi.

Agassi tied Sampras for the most career Tennis Masters Series titles with 11 with Sunday's victory. The fourth seed has won 17 of 19 matches this season, capturing his second straight Australian Open crown in January, and is a three-time champion at this event.

Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov are seeded second and fifth, respectively. Safin suffered a back injury in the final of the Dubai Open three weeks ago and his play was limited during his first-round loss to Thomas Johansson of Sweden at Indian Wells.

Kafelnikov (22-6) leads the ATP with 22 match wins. A winner this year at the Marseille Open, he has reached the quarterfinals or better in five of seven tournaments, including last week when he fell to Sampras in the semifinals in California.

Sixth seed Magnus Norman of Sweden is looking to avoid his third consecutive match defeat. He followed his final showing at the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona with a first-round upset to Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

Australians Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter complete the top eight seeds.

Hewitt, a winner in January in Sydney, advanced to the semifinals at his last two events, losing to Agassi at Indian Wells.

Rafter, who said he will retire at the end of the season, reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals in his last two events. He won the first set against Sampras in California but dropped the next two.

Tim Henman of Britain is seeded ninth, followed by Alex Corretja of Spain, Australian Open runner-up Arnaud Clement of France, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, France's Sebastien Grosjean, and Mark Philippoussis of Australia.

The top 32 seeds received byes into the second round.