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At French, it could be Venus, Serena again

PARIS, May 23 (UPI) -- A fifth straight Grand Slam final between sisters Serena and Venus Williams is still a possibility at the French Open.

They were placed on opposite sides of the women's draw announced Friday. Top-ranked Serena, who will be going after her fifth straight major crown, opens defense of her Roland Garros title against Barbara Rittner of Germany.

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Venus Williams' ranking has dropped to third in the world behind Kim Clijsters of Belgium, opening the chance the siblings might not face each other in the championship match. However, Venus Williams ended up in the bottom half of the draw, taking on a qualifier.

Clijsters will go against Amy Frazier in the first round as the year's second Grand Slam gets underway on Monday.

On the men's side, No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia will play Brian Vahaly of the United States in the first round, while second-seeded Andre Agassi, who won the French in 1999, will square off against Karol Beck of Slovakia.

Although a third-round meeting with former champion Mary Pierce is a possibility, the first big test for Serena Williams could be a quarterfinal showdown with No. 5 Amelie Mauresmo, who handed her only her second loss of the year last week in the semifinals at Rome.

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Other major seeds are Justine Henin-Hardenne (No. 4), Lindsay Davenport (No. 6), and Jennifer Capriati (No. 7). Capriati won the tournament in 2001.

Meanwhile, Hewitt, in his quest for his first French Open title, could face three-time winner Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil in the fourth round, and defending champion Albert Costa of Spain in the quarterfinals.

Other major men's seeds are Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain (No. 3), last year's runner-up, and No. 6 Andy Roddick.

American Michael Chang is in Roddick's part of the draw. The 1989 champion will play Fabrice Santoro of France to begin his last visit to Roland Garros before retiring at the U.S. Open in August.

Agassi has two former French Open champions, a former finalist, and a main contender in his half of the draw -- two-time runner-up Alex Corretja of Spain, 1996 winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, and 1998 Roland Garros winner Carlos Moya of Spain.

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