NEW YORK -- Four Americans top the women's seedings at the U.S. Open for the first time since 1983, led by Serena Williams, who'll be aiming for her third straight Grand Slam title.

	Women's seeds (Top 16)
	1. Serena Williams
	2. Venus Williams
	3. Jennifer Capriati
	4. Lindsay Davenport
	5. Jelena Dokic
	6. Monica Seles
	7. Kim Clijsters
	8. Justine Henin
	9. Martina Hingis
	10. Amelie Mauresmo
	11. Daniela Hantuchova
	12. Elena Dementieva
	13. Silvia Farina Elia
	14. Chanda Rubin
	15. Anastasia Myskina
	16. Magdalena Maleeva

Williams' sister, two-time defending champion Venus, is seeded No. 2, meaning they could meet only in the final. They have played for three of the past four major championships.

Jennifer Capriati is seeded third, and Lindsay Davenport is No. 4 for the year's final Grand Slam event, which opens Monday.

Nineteen years ago, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd, Andrea Jaeger, Tracy Austin and Pam Shriver were seeded 1-5.

Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was seeded No. 1 in the men's field Tuesday, with 2000 winner Marat Safin at No. 2. Tommy Haas is third, followed by Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Tim Henman, and two-time champion Andre Agassi at No. 6.

Pete Sampras is seeded No. 17, by far his lowest at the U.S. Open since he won the first of four titles in 1990. He was No. 10 last year, when he was the runner-up for the second straight time.

Sampras hasn't won a title since Wimbledon in 2000 -- a drought of 32 tournaments. He was knocked out of the French Open in the first round and Wimbledon in the second round this year.

The only other seeded American men are No. 11 Andy Roddick and No. 25 James Blake.

	Men's seeds (Top 16)
	1. Lleyton Hewitt
	2. Marat Safin
	3. Tommy Haas
	4. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
	5. Tim Henman
	6. Andre Agassi
	7. Juan Carlos Ferrero
	8. Albert Costa
	9. Carlos Moya
	10. Sebastian Grosjean
	11. Andy Roddick
	12. Thomas Johansson
	13. Roger Federer
	14. Jiri Novak
	15. Guillermo Canas
	16. David Nalbandian

The draw is to be held Wednesday.

Serena Williams, who took over the No. 1 ranking after beating Venus in the Wimbledon final, is trying to become the first woman to win three major titles in a year since Martina Hingis in 1997.

Jelena Dokic is seeded fifth, followed by Monica Seles, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo.

Hingis, seeded No. 1 each of the past five years, is in the field thanks to a wild card.

She had ankle surgery in May and returned to the tour last week at a tournament in Montreal. She skipped the French Open and Wimbledon because of the operation, the first major tournaments she missed since turning pro in 1994.

Starting last year, the U.S. Open joined the other Grand Slam events in expanding seedings from 16 to 32. As in the past, the U.S. Open used tour rankings to determine the seedings -- with 1998 champion Davenport as an exception.

She'll be playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since a knee injury sidelined her from November to last month. Because of the time off, her ranking slid to 10th.