Kuerten is top seed

Defending champion and world number one Gustavo Kuerten has been named top seed for next week's French Open, organisers said yesterday.

The Brazilian is top of the seedings ahead of Marat Safin, Andre Agassi and Juan Carlos Ferrero, in line with the ATP entry system rankings.

Safin has been seeded second despite a mediocre year so far. The US Open champion has an 11-11 ATP Tour record and has won just two matches on clay this season.

The women's seeds are set to be announced this morning, a French Tennis Federation spokesman said.

Ferrero was named fourth seed despite saying on Monday that a groin injury which forced him out of this week's World Team Cup could rule him out of the clay court Grand Slam event.

"If Paris were to start today I couldn't play," Ferrero told a news conference in Duesseldorf. "I must get at least 80 per cent better. It hurts to walk let alone play."

Ferrero emerged as one of the favourites for the French Open starting next Monday by winning in Rome before reaching the Hamburg final.

He jumped to a career-high fourth in the latest ATP entry list rankings released on Monday.

He was in Duesseldorf for a check-up by the World Team Cup physician on an injured muscle at the top of his right leg which meant he could not play in the tournament, viewed as the traditional warm-up for Roland Garros. "I don't know if I can play in Paris. I'll see how things develop on Wednesday or Thursday," he added.

Ferrero is the clay-court form player so far this year with three titles on the surface - Estoril, Barcelona and Rome - plus his final showing in Hamburg last week. Ferrero nudged American Pete Sampras down into fifth place in the Roland Garros seedings.