Rios, Davenport No. 1's In Aust.

Marcelo Rios of Chile and Lindsay Davenport of the United States will be the top seeds at a Grand Slam event for the first time in their careers when the Australian Open begins Monday.

Rios, who held the No. 1 ranking twice last year, received the top seed following Pete Sampras' withdrawal last week due to mental and physical fatigue. Sampras has held the top spot in men's tennis at the completion of the last six years but will miss his first Grand Slam tournament since the 1992 Australian Open.

Davenport captured her first Grand Slam title at last year's U.S. Open, where she defeated Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the final, and held onto the top spot for the rest of the year. Hingis, the two-time defending champion of this event who beat Davenport in a singles match at last week's Hopman Cup, is the second seed.

The top 16 seeds for the men's and women's draws were announced Thursday, with the entire draw to be revealed Friday (Thursday night in the United States).

"This year's tournament is so incredibly open," said tournament director Paul McNamee. "Scanning down that list of names, there's an incredible wealth of talent."

McNamee is right. The 32 seeds have a total of 50 Grand Slam titles. But you have to scan pretty far to find a pair of familiar names.

Defending champion Petr Korda of the Czech Republic is unseeded. Korda, who is under review by the ITF after testing positive for a banned substance at Wimbledon last year, was nudged out of the seedings by France's Cedric Pioline, who made the semifinals at Doha, Qatar, last week, shuffling the points standings.

On the women's side, four-time champion Steffi Graf of Germany is seeded 10th -- the first time she has not been among the top eight. Graf is coming off an injury-plagued season.

"With Steffi Graf out of the top eight seeds ... she could face either Lindsay Davenport or Martina Hingis as early as the first round," McNamee said.

Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis take their budding rivalry to the Australian Open. (AP)

Other oddities include a pair of Brits -- No. 6 Tim Henman and No. 8 Greg Rusedski -- among the seeds, the first time Britain has had two seeded players here since 1971.

Local favorites Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis could meet in the fourth round, depending on the draw. The two met in last year's U.S. Open final, with Rafter winning in four sets.

Philippoussis accused Australia Davis Cup captains Tony Roche and John Newcombe of pulling for Rafter during that match but said he has patched up his differences with all involved.

"Anything can happen," McNamee said. "Tomorrow's draw will be very interesting."

With Sampras out, the top spot in the men's rankings could be up for grabs. Following Rios is Alex Corretja of Spain, Rafter and Carlos Moya of Spain, all of whom have a chance to claim the No. 1 slot.

American Andre Agassi, who won here in 1995, is seeded fifth, followed by Henman, Karol Kucera of Slovakia, Rusedski, Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, Albert Costa of Spain, Pioline, Philippoussis, Todd Martin of the United States and Thomas Johansson of Sweden.

Among women, Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic is seeded third, followed by Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, Venus Williams, four-time champion Monica Seles, 1995 winner Mary Pierce of France, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, Conchita Martinez of Spain, Graf, Dominique van Roost of Belgium, Anna Kournikova of Russia, Irina Spirlea of Romania, Sandrine Testud of France, Natasha Zvereva of Belarus and Amanda Coezter of South Africa.

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