MIAMI, FL, USA - The dust has barely settled at Indian Wells but tennis' mega-month continues in Miami this fortnight with the Sony Ericsson Open - affectionately known as the 'Glam Slam' for its heady mix of on-court drama and off-court celebrity appeal. 

For just the second time since 1996, the tournament is without the starry presence of either Venus or Serena Williams, who between them have won eight titles at Key Biscayne. But, everybody who could be here is part of the 96-strong draw - 46 of the Top 50, in fact - and after all the upsets of the BNP Paribas Open, nothing will be taken for granted. As Sam Stosur, seeded fourth at the $4.5 million event, observed at Monday's draw ceremony: "It's just a bunch of names at the moment. This tournament is like a Grand Slam…you have to take each match as it comes."

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki heads the field as top seed, having underscored her status with a fine title run in the Californian desert. Can she become just the third player to do the Indian Wells-Miami double? Like all 32 seeds, the 20-year-old Dane benefits from an opening round bye - but she could bump straight into feisty Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the top-ranked American after the Williams sisters, in the second round.

Kim Clijsters, who won the Miami title 12 months ago on a ranking of No.16, returns as the second-ranked player in the world and the No.2 seed. But the Belgian star's prospects of a third victory here - she also won 'pre-retirement' in 2005 - are under a cloud after her fourth round retirement last week due to a shoulder injury.

Russia's Vera Zvonareva, who triumphed at Doha a few weeks ago, will be a threat as the No.3 seed (in Clijsters' half of the draw). Australia's Stosur is followed in the seedings by the player who beat her in last year's French Open final, Francesca Schiavone, at No.5. Although she wasn't able to defend her Indian Wells title, former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic - runner-up to Serena here in 2008 - could well make up for it as the No.6 seed, while Australian Open runner-up Li Na is clearly a No.7 seed with hardcourt credentials.

Victoria Azarenka, who beat Serena to win her biggest title here two years ago, rounds out the top tier of seedings at No.8. The only other former champion in the field is No.11 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat Indian Wells semifinalist Maria Sharapova, this year's No.16 seed, in the 2006 Miami final. (Sharapova was also runner-up to Clijsters here in 2005).

Although back in the Top 10 after her runner-up showing at Indian Wells, Marion Bartoli is seeded 15th this week; her first opponent will be Ayumi Morita or British wildcard Heather Watson. Other intriguing first round match-ups feature American teen Melanie Oudin against Germany's Julia Goerges; China's Zheng Jie versus Romania's Sorana Cirstea; a French derby between Alizé Cornet and Virginie Razzano; and an all-American affair between Varvara Lepchenko and wildcard Coco Vandeweghe.

In addition to Cirstea, Watson and Vandeweghe, wildcards have been awarded to former world No.1 Dinara Safina, Ajla Tomljanovic, Sabine Lisicki, Petra Martic and young American Madison Keys, who celebrated her 16th birthday just last month. She kicks off against Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder.