KEY BISCAYNE, Florida, 23 March 2005 — World No. 1 Roger Federer and women’s No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo of France were named top seeds here Monday for the WTA and ATP Masters Series tournament that begins here today.
But the main rivals on both the men’s and women’s sides, second-ranked Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and women’s world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport of the United States, are absent from the $6.5 million hardcourt showdown.
Hewitt withdrew Monday with a toe injury while Davenport is absent after losing to Belgium’s Kim Clijsters in the finals at Indian Wells last Saturday.
Hewitt, 24, suffered his injury on Saturday at the Indian Wells ATP event in a semifinal victory over American Andy Roddick. Swiss world No. 1 Roger Federer beat Hewitt 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday’s final.
Hewitt won his fourth consecutive title at Sydney in January and reached the Australian Open final, where Russia’s Marat Safin foiled his bid to become the first Aussie in 29 years to claim the Australian Open crown.
Andre Agassi, who was forced to withdraw Friday at Indian Wells with an inflamed toe, will play here, as will third seed Serena Williams and her eighth seed sister Venus, a US duo who could meet in the Key Biscayne quarterfinals.
Byes for the top seeds on both sides will keep most of the big names off the match courts until the weekend.
Following Swiss star Federer among the men’s seeds are American Andy Roddick, Safin, Argentina’s Guillermo Coria, Spain’s Carlos Moya, Britain’s Tim Henman and Argentines Gaston Gaudio and David Nalbandian.
On the women’s side, Mauresmo is followed by Russia’s Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Russians Elena Dementieva, Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, Aussie Alicia Molik and Venus Williams.
Federer will open with a second-round match against either Croatian Ivo Karlovic or Belgian Olivier Rochus. Roddick will begin in round two with either Dutchman Peter Wessels or Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.
Agassi, the ninth seed, gets his first test in the second round against France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu or Czech Michal Tabara. He could face a fourth round date with Gaudio, who opens with a qualifier or Spain’s Alex Calatrava.
