Dateline: 05/28/01

Second seed Venus Williams and fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo, both considered top contenders for the 2001 French Open, lost in the first round Monday.

Of all the seeded players, Venus drew the toughest first-round opponent in Barbara Schett, ranked 24th in the world. Schett's 6-4, 6-4 win was her first over Venus in five tries. It was their first match on clay, though, and while Venus has had some good results on clay, it mutes her biggest weapon, power. Schett was able to get to all but a few of Venus's shots, and, perhaps going for too much, Venus committed 43 unforced errors.

Amelie Mauresmo's draw was not as tough, but 60th-ranked Jana Kandarr was able to out-steady her for a 7-5, 7-5 upset. Although Mauresmo's four titles this year have evidenced, among other assets, a major improvement in her mental toughness, she had displayed remarkably poor shot selection in her recent loss to Jelena Dokic at the Italian Open. Her loss to Kandarr was similar. She blew a 5-1 lead in the second set and committed 37 unforced errors.

The women's field is further narrowed by several prominent withdrawals due to injury. Out are the 3rd seed, Lindsay Davenport (knee), the defending champion, Mary Pierce (back), three-time champion Monica Seles (foot), and the always notable Anna Kournikova (foot). Davenport withdrew after the seedings, so the draw contains no 3rd seed, but instead a 17th seed, Sandrine Testud.

The official seedings are as follows:

Women:

1. Martina Hingis
2. Venus Williams LOST
3. none
4. Jennifer Capriati
5. Amelie Mauresmo LOST
6. Serena Williams
7. Elena Dementieva
8. Conchita Martinez
9. Nathalie Tauziat
10. Amanda Coetzer
11. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
12. Kim Clijsters
13. Magdalena Maleeva
14. Justine Henin
15. Jelena Dokic
16. Meghann Shaughnessy
17. Sandrine Testud

1. Gustavo Kuerten
2. Marat Safin
3. Andre Agassi
4. Juan Carlos Ferrero
5. Pete Sampras
6. Lleyton Hewitt
7. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
8. Patrick Rafter
9. Magnus Norman
10. Sebastien Grosjean
11. Tim Henman
12. Arnaud Clement
13. Alex Corretja
14. Thomas Enqvist
15. Franco Squillari
16. Jan-Michael Gambill LOST