May 22 (AFP) - Spanish star Carlos Moya begins his defence of the French Open men's singles title on the red clay of Roland Garros on Monday looking to kill two birds with one stone: retain the title and reclaim top spot in the rankings. The 22-year-old from Palma de Mallorca, currently ranked fourth on the ATP computer, spent a fortnight on top of the pile in March. And he enjoyed the feeling, as well as the view from the summit. Moya, who beat fellow Spaniard Alex Corretja in last year's final, opens his campaign against unheralded Austrian Markus Hipfl and says he can hardly wait to get out there. "It'll be great to come out on court as defending champion. I'm sure it will be a really special feeling," said the 1.90m right-hander, who last season went into the French on the back of a title win in Monte Carlo - but who has had mixed fortunes in recent months. His year could hardly have started in worse fashion, with a first-round defeat at the Australian Open to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer. And the Spaniard, hampered by an infected thumb blister from an April tournament in India, has slipped to fourth in the world after an early loss in Rome to Argentine Franco Squillari as well as in the Hamburg semi to eventual winner Marcelo Rios - having previously thrashed Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten. He also lost in the Monte Carlo quarters to Frenchman Jerome Golmard, thus failing to recapture his first Super 9 title. But he did have a good run at last year's US Open, bowing out in the semis to Australian power-server Mark Philippoussis. Moya, with five career titles to date, says he is hungry to get back on the winning trail. "I can't be satisfied with just that one Grand Slam win, even though nobody can take that away from me. No real champion can be that easily satisfied," he said. "You have to keep on fixing new goals and mine are to win more Slams and reclaim number one. After tasting it - I want more!" Toppling Russia's top-ranked Yevgeny Kafelnikov is the top priority for Moya, he insists, although another win here would naturally help that aim. "Getting to be number one is the fruit of a whole year's work, the biggest goal of all, whereas you can win a Grand Slam in a fortnight," he said. "And there can be four slam winners every year. Getting to number one was even better than winning Roland Garros." The fourth seed sees "most of the Spaniards, as well as Kuerten and Rios, as his main rivals. "If the title went elsewhere I'd be pretty surprised," said Moya, who has remained loyal to coach Jose Perlas since the age of 17. Moya was one of a group of promising Spanish youngsters Perlas took under his wing, although in January last year he added Luis Miguel Morales to his entourage as fitness trainer. He feels that his natural affinity for clay, coupled with his additional stamina, will serve him in good stead in the coming two weeks. "I know that if I'm on a good day few players can beat me on clay," insists the man who is in line for a fourth-round clash with Andre Agassi if the seedings hold up. Other seeds in his quarter of the draw are number 12 Briton Greg Rusedski and Dutch former semi-finalist Richard Krajicek, seeded five. Sunday June 7, 1998, was a great day for Moya and March 15, 1999, was even better - the day he claimed top spot in the world. A good fortnight in Paris and Moya can pencil in June 6 as his next-red letter day. By then, when the final comes round, he could be back on course for number one. --=-=-- 