Remember the name Andrei Pavel. He’s a potential answer to a trivia question: Who is the last opponent Andre Agassi faced in his glorious tennis career?

The sore-backed Agassi, who will retire after the U.S. Open – his 21st straight – will face the 76th-ranked Pavel in the first round. The ballyhooed match will be played Monday or Tuesday night in what could be Agassi’s swan song to tennis, in front of a frenzied crowd at Flushing Meadows.

At yesterday’s Open draw, the unseeded Agassi dodged a bullet. Without a seed, the two-time Open champ could have faced anyone in the first round – Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal included.

But his draw is rigorous if he survives the Romanian. He’ll likely meet in the second round up-and-comer Marcos Baghdatis, who made the Australian Open finals and has an electric, energetic backcourt game many compare to Agassi’s.

Andy Roddick, with new coach Jimmy Connors, awaits in the fourth round, as Agassi’s chances of making a deep run like last year are very slim.

Agassi, 36, has played few tournaments this summer because of his ailing back. He pulled out of Cincinnati last week and hasn’t played since the Washington event in early August.

In Washington, Agassi revealed the cortisone injections that allowed him to reach the Open finals last September are becoming less effective. He said they last “a week or two now as opposed to a few months. Just goes to reaffirm my decision.”

Before Wimbledon, Agassi announced he’d retire following the Open and planned to soak it all in – the final two months of his career. But his 8-7 record this year has made it tough to savor.

John McEnroe said yesterday Agassi’s chances of making a gallant run are “fair to middling.”

“[The fans] like to see Agassi make a run like last year, but it will be really hard to duplicate because it took so much out of him last year,” McEnroe said.

Federer and Nadal are the favorites to advance to their third straight Grand Slam final showdown. Federer has it easy until the quarters before potentially facing James Blake, another hugely popular Open figure.

In the lackluster banged-up women’s draw, besieged by injuries and disinterested players, Venus and Serena Williams are on opposite sides of the draw. Not that it matters anymore. Each is unseeded, injury-riddled and lacking desire.

Serena, who has played just two tournaments since the Australian Open in January with a chronic knee injury, needed a wild card to make the 128-player draw. Venus’ ranking had fallen to a 30th seed.

Meanwhile, defending champ, Kim Clijsters is out with a wrist injury.

“The biggest problem women’s tennis has had is player attendance, not enough of top players play with any regularity,” Carillo said. “It’s terrible for the fans.”

– With Sam Blake

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U.S. Open seeds

Men

1. Roger Federer

2. Rafael Nadal

3. Ivan Ljubicic

4. David Nalbandian

5. James Blake

6 . Tommy Robredo

7. Nikolay Davydenko

8. Marcos Baghdatis

9. Andy Roddick

10. Fernando Gonzalez

Women

1. Amelie Mauresmo

2. Justine Henin-Hardenne

3. Maria Sharapova

4. Elena Dementieva

5. Nadia Petrova

6. Svetlana Kuznetsova

7. Patty Schnyder

8. Martina Hingis

9. Nicole Vaidisova

10. Lindsay Davenport