Russians Dominate Seedings at WTA Carson L.A.

Maria Sharapova heads the field, with the former Wimbledon winner just a projected two or three (why can't the WTA figure out their own rankings?) wins away for eclipsing Davenport as the No. 1 player in the world for the first time.

Other seeds among the elite eight are Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva, Nadia Petrova, Kim Clijsters, Mary Pierce, Elena Likhovtseva and Marion Bartoli.

Vera Zvonareva, Chanda Rubin and Akiko Morigami withdrew Sunday with injuries.

The Top 8 seeds receive opening-round byes, but a few early-round meetings of interest await in (1) Sharapova vs. countrywoman Maria Kirilenko in the second round, India's darling Sania Mirza vs. Czech Iveta Benesova (winner to face (16) Anna Chakvetadze), Japan's (11) Shinobu Asagoe vs. China's Jie Zheng, (5) Clijsters vs. Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem in the second round, and (9) Daniela Hantuchova vs. San Diego semifinalist Shuai Peng second round.

Pierce has an easy road to the quarterfinals where she would potentially face Dementieva, with other QF match-ups including Sharapova vs. Hantuchova, Clijsters vs. Petrova, and Kuznetsova vs. Likhovtseva or Peng.

In last year's final, the No. 3-seeded Davenport ousted the top-seeded Serena 6-1, 6-3.

Scheduled for play on Monday are Brandi vs. Safina, Osterloh vs. Raymond, Randriantefy vs. Schiavone, Koukalova vs. Matevzic, Dulko vs. Zuluaga, Fujiwara vs. An.Serra Zanetti, Voskoboeva vs. Lepchenko, Jidkova vs. Stosur, Frazier vs. Spears, Kirilenko vs. Irvin, Haynes vs. Domachowska, Asagoe vs. Zheng, Li vs. Chakvetadze, Camerin vs. Bartoli, and Pennetta vs. Nakamura.