There were no surprises when the seedings for this year's first Grand Slam event - the Australian Open - were announced yesterday. Gustavo Kuerten has made history be becoming the first Brazilian number one seed at a Grand Slam tournament. Although he is currently struggling with an elbow injury, US Open champion Marat Safin is seeded second with Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras rated number three. Defending champion Andre Agassi is only seeded sixth while British number one Tim Henman is seeded eighth because world number eight Alex Corretja and world number nine Thomas Enqvist of Sweden are both out injured.
Meanwhile, in the ladies competition, defending champion and world number one Martina Hingis is top seed with Lindsay Davenport second seed and Venus Williams in third. There were two Irish players involved in the qualifiers for the prestigious tournament. Scott Barron was beaten in the first round by Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. However, Kelly Liggan is through to the second round 7-6 6-3 victory over Australian Kriston Van Elden.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
