MELBOURNE, January 16: The Australian Open should see some early replays of last year's finals with rivals put on an early path to the new confrontation by today's draw.Martina Hingis may clash with Mary Pierce of France and Pete Sampras with Carlos Moya of Spain in quarter-finals of the year's first Grand Slam which starts at Melbourne Park on Monday with US $6.5 million of prize money at stake.Hingis definitely has more difficult path to the final of the two favourites, while the women's draw threw up more tantalising clashes.The 17-year-old Swiss starts against Germany's Wiltrud Probst but may have to take on Russian teenager Anna Kournikova in the third round.That could turn into a major battle of the starlets expected to dominate the women's game into the next century.After that looms Belgium's Dominique van Roost, the number 14 seed, who battled to the quarter-finals with a stomach muscle injury that forced her to retire last year.Pierce would follow, if the 1995 champion, now seeded fifth, beats Li Fang of China in the first round, with American Chanda Rubin the other main threat in her section of the draw. Hingis beat Pierce 6-2 6-2 in last year's final to claim her first Grand Slam title.The number two seed Lindsay Davenport starts against Amelie Cocheteux of France, but the most attention of early rounds will be focussed on American sisters Venus and Serena Williams, who could meet in the second round.Serena must first get by tough sixth seed Irina Spirlea of Romania in her opening match. Venus plays Alexia Dechaume Ballaret of France in her first round.At the Sydney tournament this week, the controversial pair have been openly warning rivals that they expect to sweep aside Hingis and dominate women's tennis for the next decade.Sampras, the most accomplished men's player of the past decade, starts against Sjeng Schalken of The Netherlands in the first round.His first severe test could be Australia's Mark Philippoussis, the 15th seed, in the fourth round and then Moya, the seventh seed, in the quarter-finals. Sampras beat Moya 6-2 6-3 6-3 in last year's final to take the Australian Open title for the second time.No 2 seed Patrick Rafter starts against world number 49 Jeff Tarango of the United States, but after it becomes extremely tough. He is likely to face former open finalist Todd Martin in the second round and could meet gifted Andre Medvedev of Ukraine in the third.If he reaches the fourth round, Rafter could meet former world number one Andre Agassi or Spanish 16th seed Albert Costa, the player who beat him in the first round last year.Britain's two big hopes fifth seed Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman, one of the top unseeded players, start against qualifiers. Rusedski could play Brazil's French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, the 12th seed, in the fourth round. Henman, third seed Michael Chang and 12th seed Goran Ivanisevic all loom in the quarter-final.
