MELBOURNE, Australia -- First off, it's worth noting that neither one of the Williams sisters has been to the final of the Australian Open. Serena has never been past the quarterfinals. It's the last Grand Slam event that neither has won.

	Pam's Picks
	Shriver Former WTA Tour pro Pam Shriver is providing ESPN.com with in-depth analysis throughout the Australian Open. Shriver, a tennis analyst for ESPN, was ranked as high as No. 3 in singles play. She won 21 singles and 112 doubles crowns, including 22 Grand Slam titles.

The surface, Rebound Ace, is like a hard court with higher bouncing. The surface is a little more sticky -- it just grabs a little more. So I don't think either one likes it. Wind conditions can vary here, and so for whatever reason, they haven't settled in here.

In particular, Serena is hungry to win four majors in a row and be on the short list of players who have done that. She's got a comfortable first-round match against a lefty from France in Emilie Loit. The first match that would be any kind of worry is against Monica Seles. I think Serena likes her preparation. Along with James Blake, she won the Hopman Cup. She put some thought into her preparation this year. She didn't want to play the week before because that's when she injured her ankle last year and missed the Aussie.

This is the only major where Serena is not the title-holder, and she's got a good draw.

Seles plays someone I've never heard of before in the first round -- Lubomira Kurhajcova. Those unknown names always seem to appear in the first round at this event. Then Seles has two qualifiers to face. Looking at her draw, if you're Seles you have to be happy with it. Maggie Maleeva will be in the round of 16 for Seles and that equals a Seles-Serena quarterfinal.

In my mind the second favorite to win the tournament is Kim Clijsters. The last time we saw her was in the Tour Championships beating Venus and Serena back-to-back. She has a good draw. Anna (Smashnova) Pistolesi, who got married since the last time we saw her, is Clijsters' possible round of 16 opponent. Clijsters should get through there. Chanda Rubin is a dangerous next opponent. Rubin is one of the nice stories of last year. She's a veteran, with lots of injuries, who had a good comeback last season and wants to start this year well.

Elena Dementieva is another player who has come off the top 10 but can still cause problems in that side of the draw.

But the two best players in the world in Clijsters and Serena are in that half of the draw, and they could meet in the semifinals.

The first name in the other half of the draw is the other newly married woman, Justin Henin-Hardenne. She could be playing Anna Kournikova in the second round. Henin-Hardenne's interesting round of 16 includes Lindsay Davenport, who's only seeded ninth as a result of missing half of last year.

One player to have a look for is Alicia Molik of Australia. She played great at the Hopman Cup. She has a huge serve. She played a couple of good matches this last week. Either way, against Molik or Iroda Tulyaganova, Davenport has a tough second round. But I put Davenport as the fourth or fifth favorite to win the tournament.

Alexandra Stevenson, at 15, has her highest seeding in a major. Interestingly, she's in Jennifer Capriati's round of 16, and she's beaten Capriati a couple of times. It's a matchup that Capriati, two-time defending champ going for three in a row, does not like. For the third year in a row, Capriati lost her opening match in the warm-up tournament in Sydney. But losing hasn't bothered her the past two years at the Aussie Open. She obviously just loves everything about Melbourne.

It's a very tough task to win three straight Australian Opens, but Capriati should have some fun trying. She's capable. She probably played two of the best matches last year: fighting off four match points against Martina Hingis in the Aussie Open final and the fantastic semifinal in L.A. against Serena. So Capriati's always great to watch and is still a good story.

In the last section of the draw with Venus is Daniela Hantuchova. Hantuchova is due to face Patty Schnyder in the fourth round and Venus' probable fourth round would be against Silvia Farina Elia. But Hantuchova and Venus probably have as comfortable a section to get through as anybody. Last year, it was Hantuchova who took Venus to a third set (3-6, 6-0, 6-4 ) in the third round. It was the first time Hantuchova came onto many of our radar screens. And we know what kind of year she had afterward, winning Indian Wells and getting inside the top 10.

As to Venus there are plenty of questions surrounding her appearance here. Will there be any mysterious injuries? What will her frame of mind be? Will she be burnt out from creating her new interior design firm?

The last time we saw Venus, she was limping off the court in the WTA Championships. She's never done well here. She plays her first match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who just won the Gold Coast doubles title with Martina Navratilova, so that's an interesting first-round match. Kuznetsova has a lot of talent. Navratilova was certainly pleased to be playing with a 17-year-old with that much power and skill. So Venus, despite no match play this year, had better be ready to fire it up from the first round.