Defending champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, seeded eighth, could meet Andre Agassi in the second round after today's draw, which was officiated by former French tennis star Guy Forget.

Top women's seed, Martina Hingis of Switzerland is in the same quarter of the draw as American Venus Villiams, her most dangerous opponent. Sampras is bidding to win the only Grand Slam title eluding him at the Open starting on Monday. He took a while to get over a leg injury suffered at the Davis Cup final but won a clay title at Atlanta this month. Kuerten's victory here last year was huge surprise and the Brazilian has struggled to build on it.

Tournament favourite Marcelo Rios of Chile will open against Brett Steven of New Zealand and then has a smooth passage till fourth round where he is likely to face 13th-seededSpaniard Albert Costa.

Britain's fifth seed Greg Rusedski, who has won only three matches in three visits to the French capital where the deadly slow red clay takes the bite out of his big serve and robs his volleys of their usual power, can't complain about his draw. First he will face Belgian Johan Van Herck.

The 1996 champion and sixth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia opens against a qualifier but should then face in-form Thomas Enqvist of Sweden. He could also face unseeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia in the third round.