Serena Williams, Hewitt Head French Open Seedings

Defending champion Serena Williams and Lleyton Hewitt were seeded No. 1 in the women’s and men’s draws, respectively, of the French Open, which begins Monday at Paris.

Williams has defeated her sister, Venus, in the last four Grand Slam finals, starting with last year’s French Open. The world’s top-ranked women’s player has won three tournaments this year and has a match record of 29-2.

Kim Clijsters of Belgium is seeded second in the women’s tournament, followed by Venus Williams and Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium. Three-time French Open champion Monica Seles is seeded 12th.

Hewitt, from Australia, is followed in the seedings by Andre Agassi, the 1999 French Open champion, and Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya, the 1998 winner.

Defending champion Albert Costa of Spain is seeded ninth and three-time winner Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil is 15th.

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Hewitt helped Australia defeat the United States, 3-0, in the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany.

Hewitt defeated James Blake, 6-3, 6-3, and left-hander Wayne Arthurs beat Todd Martin, 7-6 (4), 7-5. In doubles, Arthurs and Todd Reid beat Blake and Graydon Oliver, 6-4, 6-2.

Blake was up, 3-2, in the second set against Hewitt.

“I’m pretty disappointed that I could have played a lot better,” Blake said. “Even when I got up in the second set I still didn’t feel like I was hitting the ball the way I’d like to for the clay-court season. I was just kind of pushing and got into that rut, instead of going for my shots.”

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Third-seeded Conchita Martinez lost to Cara Black, 6-2, 6-3, and eighth-seeded Virginia Ruano lost to Klara Koukalova, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, in the first round of the Spanish Open at Madrid.

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Defending champion Silvia Farina Elia advanced to the second round of the Strasbourg Open in France with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Cho Yoon-jeong of South Korea.

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Anthony Dupuis defeated Olivier Mutis, 6-3, 6-1, in the only first-round match completed in the rain-delayed Raiffeisen Grand Prix at St. Poelten, Austria.

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Illinois (32-0) earned the school’s first national title in tennis by defeating Vanderbilt, 4-3, in the NCAA men’s championships at Athens, Ga.