Hingis has won all WTA Tour Tier I tournaments and three of the four Grand Slams but has not captured this event, which has been won by all the other No. 1 players in the last 20 years.

The top seed from Switzerland lost in the semifinals at the Ericsson Open in Miami two weeks ago to Venus Williams but has three titles this season and a 33-4 match record. She and the other top 16 seeds received byes out of the first round.

In the second round, Hingis will play the winner of Monday's match between Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson and Spain's Virginia Ruano-Pascual.

Second seed and 1995 champion Conchita Martinez of Spain brings a three-match losing streak into this event. Martinez's best stretch this season was at the beginning of the year in Australia, when she reached the quarterfinals at Gold Coast and the semifinals at Sydney. She has lost four of her last five matches.

Martinez lost in last year's final to Monica Seles, who withdrew due to a continuing foot injury.

Elena Dementieva, the third-seeded Russian, has won 10 of her last 13 matches. She reached her first WTA Tour final at the Mexican Open last month and followed with a quarterfinal effort at Indian Wells and a semifinal showing at Miami.

Fourth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa advanced to the fourth round at the Ericsson Open and defeated Dementieva in Acapulco to win her first title of the year.

No. 5 Mary Pierce of France will participate in the her first match since falling in the quarterfinals at the Dubai Open in February. The 1998 champion here, she has withdrew from her last few tournaments with tendinitis on both ankles.

Sixth seed Amelie Mauresmo of France has won 10 consecutive matches, sweeping the titles in Paris and Nice in February.

Two-time champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, fresh off winning her first title of the year at Porto, Portugal last week, is the seventh seed. Sanchez-Vicario captured her first championship since Cairo in 1999, although she was a finalist on claycourt tournaments at Hilton Head and Hamburg, Germany last year.

American Chanda Rubin is seeded eighth, followed by Paola Suarez of Argentina, Americans Meghann Shaughnessy, Amy Frazier and Lisa Raymond, Yugoslavian Jelena Dokic, Gala Leon Garcia of Spain, Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia, and Elena Likhovtseva.

In Monday's action, Swtizerland's Patty Schnyder plays Candadian Jana Nejedly, Joannette Kruger of South Africa meets Sandra Cacic of the United States, and Japan's Shinobu Asagoe faces France's Nathalie Dechy.

Also, American Jennifer Hopkins takes on Germany's Andrea Glass, Bettanie Mattek of the United State battles countrywoman Jill Craybas, and Marline Weingartner of Germany goes against Maria Emelia Salerni of Argentina.

On Monday night, Anastasia Myskina of Russia squares off against Iva Majoli of Croatia.