In the women's draw, world number one Lindsay Davenport was drawn to meet aggressive young American and fifth seed Venus Williams in the quarter-finals.

In a tantalising prospect, old foes Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Monica Seles were all drawn in the same quarter of the 128-strong women's field.

Korda, who will defend his only Grand Slam title under a drugs cloud, is unseeded after his ranking slipped to 21st in the world and plays Spaniard Galo Blanco in the first round.

World number two Rios was named top seed in the absence of a resting Pete Sampras and faces Italian Gianluca Pozzi in the first round.

Rios pulled out of a warm-up event in Auckland this week but faces a relatively smooth passage to the fourth round, while Korda faces 15th seed and 1994 open finalistTodd Martin in the third round.

Ironically, Martin is due to speak on behalf of Korda after a scheduled meeting of the ATP players council tomorrow which will discuss Korda's positive steroid test and subsequent light penalty that saw him escape a one-year ban.

Tournament organiser Paul McNamee said Rios had arrived in Melbourne and was confident the temperamental Chilean would take his place despite the injury.

The men's draw also sees a possible replay of the all-Australian 1998 US Open final between Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis in the fourth round. Third seed Rafter meets Oliver Gross in the first round while big-serving Philippoussis, the 14th seed, meets American Geoff Grant.

Philippoussis's likely second round opponent, however, is 1989 French Open champion and world number 28 Michael Chang.

In women's draw, world number two Martina Hingis takes on little-known American Lilia Osterloh in the first round, while top seed Davenport meets Spain's Gala Leon Garcia.

Hingis, eager toreclaim the number one spot she lost to Davenport after losing last year's US Open final to the slimmed-down American, faces a relatively smooth passage through the bottom half of the draw to the semi-finals.

At the top of the same half of the women's draw are Graf, Seles and Sanchez Vicario, between them the winners of 34 Grand Slam titles.

World number six Seles -- unbeaten in 28 matches in Melbourne after winning the title in 1991-93 and 1996, meets a qualifier in the round and will then be on course for a probable quarter-final against either Graf or Sanchez Vicario.

Fourth seed Sanchez Vicario meets South Africa's Mariaan de Swardt in first round. Tenth-seeded Graf, on the comeback trail after a prolonged period of injury and unsettled life off the court, takes on Paola Suarez of Argentina.

Success would see the pair of old foes meet in the fourth round, with Seles looming and then Hingis in the semi-finals.