New York, August 27: Defending champion Serena Williams was seeded No 2 for the US Open behind Dinara Safina because the tournament stuck to its policy of strictly following the world rankings.
Roger Federer was seeded No 1 on Tuesday for the fifth time at the year’s last Grand Slam. He is ranked No 1 and has won the US Open five years in a row.
Safina is No 1 on the WTA Tour, which based the rankings on performances across tournaments over the preceding 52 weeks.
The younger sister of former men’s No 1 Marat Safin is still seeking her first Grand Slam title. She is winless in
three major finals, including a loss to Williams at the Australian Open in January.
Williams has won three of the past four Grand Slam singles championships and 11 overall, the most among active
women. She will be seeking her fourth US Open title.
Tournament director Jim Curley said the US Tennis Association did discuss the possibility of moving Williams ahead of Safina.
Maria Sharapova is No 29 – barely earning one of the 32 seedings after rising from No 49 in the rankings last week.
She won the 2006 US Open for one of her three major titles but missed the tournament last year because of a right shoulder injury.
The Russian had surgery in October and a long absence from the tour dropped her ranking.
Sharapova is among a dozen Grand Slam singles champions seeded at this year’s US Open.
One major champion in the field but not seeded is 2005 US Open winner Kim Clijsters, who recently came out of retirement and received a wild card from the USTA.
After Federer in the men’s seedings are 2008 US Open runner-up Andy Murray, six-time major champion Rafael Nadal, 2007 US Open runner-up Novak Djokovic and 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick.
–IANS–