U.S. OPEN AT A GLANCE

Men’s No. 1

ANDRE AGASSI

Last year’s champion, Pete Sampras, will be honored in a retirement ceremony tonight. Agassi, the ’02 runner-up, probably will be on hand.

AGE: 33.

COUNTRY: United States.

2003 MATCH RECORD: 39-7.

2003 SINGLES TITLES: 4.

CAREER SINGLES TITLES: 58.

CAREER HARD-COURT TITLES: 39.

MAJOR TITLES: Eight -- U.S. (‘94, ‘99), Australian (‘95, ‘00, ‘01, ‘03), French (‘99), Wimbledon (‘92).

LAST 5 U.S. OPENS: ‘02-Final, ‘01-Quarterfinals, ‘00-2nd Round, ‘99-Won, ‘98-4th Round.

TOPSPIN: Married, with a second child on the way -- and still showing the young guns how to play.... Oldest No. 1 in rankings history.... Favorable draw could help him reach semifinals for the ninth time in 18 U.S. Open appearances.

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Women’s No. 1

KIM CLIJSTERS

For the first time in five years a Williams won’t win the U.S. Open as Serena (champion in 2002 and 1999) and Venus (2001, 2000) are sidelined by injury. A closer look at Clijsters, who is looking for her first Grand Slam title:

AGE: 20.

COUNTRY: Belgium.

2003 MATCH RECORD: 68-10.

2003 SINGLES TITLES: 6.

CAREER SINGLES TITLES: 16.

CAREER HARD-COURT TITLES: 6.

MAJOR TITLES: None (Best: Finalist at French Open, 2001 and 2003).

LAST 5 U.S. OPENS: ‘02-4th, ‘01-QF, ‘00-2nd, ‘99-3rd, ‘98-DNP.

TOPSPIN: A semifinalist at all three majors in 2003.... Lost to countrywoman Justine Henin-Hardenne in the French Open final.

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Facts

* WHEN: Begins today, concludes Sept. 7.

* WHERE: National Tennis Center; Flushing Meadow, N.Y.

* ON TV: Begins today and airs daily on USA, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.; 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Channel 2 will have coverage during the second week.

2002 CHAMPIONS: Men, Pete Sampras; Women, Serena Williams.

* WOMEN’S FINAL: Sept. 6, 5 p.m., Channel 2.

* MEN’S FINAL: Sept. 7, 1 p.m., Channel 2.

* PRIZE MONEY: Total of $17.074 million, with the men’s and women’s singles champions each earning $1 million.

* CHAMPIONS THE LAST FIVE YEARS: Men, 2002 -- Sampras; 2001 -- Lleyton Hewitt; 2000 -- Marat Safin; 1999 -- Andre Agassi; 1998 -- Patrick Rafter. Women, 2002 -- S. Williams; 2001 -- Venus Williams; 2000 -- V. Williams; 1999 -- S. Williams; 1998 -- Lindsay Davenport.

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Seedings

* MEN: 1. Agassi; 2. Roger Federer, Switzerland; 3. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain; 4. Andy Roddick; 5. Guillermo Coria, Argentina; 6. Hewitt, Australia; 7. Carlos Moya, Spain; 8. Rainer Schuettler, Germany; 9. Sebastien Grosjean, France; 10. Jiri Novak, Czech Republic; 11. Paradorn Srichaphan, Thailand; 12. Sjeng Schalken, Netherlands; 13. David Nalbandian, Argentina; 14. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil; 15. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile; 16. Martin Verkerk, Netherlands.

* WOMEN: 1. Kim Clijsters, Belgium; 2. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium; 3. Davenport; 5. Amelie Mauresmo, France; 6. Jennifer Capriati; 7. Anastasia Myskina, Russia; 8. Chanda Rubin; 9. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia; 10. Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgaria; 11. Elena Dementieva, Russia; 12. Conchita Martinez, Spain; 13. Vera Zvonareva, Russia; 14. Amanda Coetzer, South Africa; 15. Ai Sugiyama, Japan; 16. Elena Bovina, Russia.

Note: No. 4-seeded Venus Williams withdrew because of injury.

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Today’s Featured Matches

* MEN: Ferrero (3) vs. Jan Vacek; Coria (5) vs. Mariano Puerta; Hewitt (6) vs. Victor Hanescu; Mardy Fish (24) vs. Joachim Johansson.

* WOMEN: Clijsters (1) vs. Amber Liu; Davenport (3) vs. Els Callens; Mauresmo (5) vs. Angelique Widjaja, Rubin (8) vs. Maria Vento-Kabchi; Hantuchova (9) vs. Marion Bartoli.

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Interesting Matchups

* MEN: All-American men’s first-round match: Robert Yim vs. Todd Martin; Roddick faces Tim Henman in the first round Tuesday; Roddick could potentially face Schuettler in the quarterfinals. Other possible quarterfinal matchups are: Agassi vs. Coria, Hewitt vs. Ferrero and Federer vs. Moya.

* WOMEN: All-American women’s first-round matches: Laura Granville vs. Ansley Cargill; Shenay Perry vs. Amy Frazier.

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Wild Cards

* MEN: All are Americans: Robert Kendrick, Jeff Morrison, Michael Chang, Brian Baker, Yim, Alex Bogomolov, Alex Kim and Amer Delic. Jeff Salzenstein is only U.S. qualifier.

* WOMEN: Liu, Bea Bielik, Theresa Logar, Perry, Carly Gullickson, Bethanie Mattek. Gabriela Lastra is the only U.S. qualifier.

Prize Money

*--* Men’s and women’s singles Winners (2): $1 million Runners-up (2): $500,000 Semifinalists (4): $250,000 Quarterfinalists (8): $125,000 Fourth-round losers (16): $65,000 Third-round losers (32): $37,500 Second-round losers (64): $23,000 First-round losers (128): $12,500

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Complete draw... D10

-- Steve Pratt