CHARLESTON, S.C. - World No.1 Lindsay Davenport and defending champion Venus Williams headline a solid field at this year's Family Circle Cup. Williams returns to Charleston where last year she ended a title drought of more than a year with her victory at the $1.3 million Tier I event. Venus is looking for her first title since her strong clay court showing last year also included a win at Warsaw in late April. As the No.4 seed this week, Venus will have a first round bye before beginning her title defense against either Denisa Chladkova or Maria Elena Camerin. For the second straight year, Davenport will head to Charleston after another strong clay court start at Amelia Island (playing in final on Sunday). It's hard to argue that anyone has been better in the game in 2005 than the world's top player. Davenport has now reached five straight finals (Australian Open, Tokyo, Dubai, Indian Wells, Amelia Island) and has a 23-3 record before Sunday's Amelia finale. Despite 83 career finals on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Davenport has never reached the championship match at Charleston in six previous appearances. Her best previous performance came in 2003 when she fell to Serena Williams in the semifinals. Last year, Davenport lost to Patty Schnyder in the quarters. She will begin her journey in Charleston against either Jill Craybas or a qualifier. No.2 seed Elena Dementieva missed a scheduled stop last week at Amelia Island due to a left hip injury. Now, after having an extra week to rest, Dementieva enters Charleston looking for her first title of the season. Following her first round bye, Dementieva will face either Dally Randriantefy or Alina Jidkova in the second round. Anastasia Myskina, the No.3 seed, was disappointed after a third round loss at Amelia Island, but will look to get her clay-court game in full swing at Charleston. The Roland Garros champion lost to Shinobu Asagoe in a pair of tie-breaks at Amelia Island. She will take on either a qualifier or Nicole Vaidisova in the second round. After playing heading north to South Carolina following a subpar performance at Amelia is No.4 seed Alicia Molik. Despite a strong showing during the hard court swing, Molik got off to a rough start on clay, losing to Virginie Razzano in the second round last week. Molik could see wild card Nicole Pratt or Katerina Srebotnik in the second round this week. Other top seeds competing this week at Charleston include No.6 Vera Zvonareva, No.7 Nadia Petrova and No.8 Patty Schnyder. After her successful week at Amelia Island, No.12 seed Silvia Farina Elia will attempt to keep her clay-court success going as she takes on Jelena Kostanic in her first match of the week. Two-time champion Conchita Martinez, who fell to Venus Williams in last year's final, returns to Charleston once again and will take on Barbora Strycova in the first round. The Family Circle Cup - now in its 31st year - is one of the longest running tournaments on the WTA Tour. The other multiple winners of the event are Chris Event (8 times), Steffi Graf (4), Tracy Austin (2), Martina Hingis (2), Gabriela Sabatini (2) and Conchita Martinez (2). --

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