Federer, Henin get top billing for US Open

By IANS

New York : Roger Federer and Justine Henin, the world’s top-ranked players, will be the number one seeds for the US Open, the final Grand Slam tennis event of the year starting here Monday.


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Federer, the three-time defending champion, is attempting to become the first man to win four consecutive singles titles at the tournament in the Open era.

The Swiss, world number one since January 2004, has won five titles this year, including Wimbledon, giving him 11 Grand Slam titles.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who defeated Federer in this year’s French Open final, is the number two seed. Novak Djokovic of Serbia follows at number three and is an obstacle to a potential Federer-Nadal final.

The 20-year-old defeated both Federer and Nadal en route to the Montreal Masters title two weeks ago.

Henin, the reigning French Open women’s champion, is coming off a victory in Toronto Sunday, where she defeated Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic in the final 7-6 (7-3) 7-5.

It was the sixth title of the year and the 35th career victory for the six-time Grand Slam event winner from Belgium, who won here in 2003 and was a finalist in 2006.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia is seeded second.

India’s Sania Mirza is seeded 26th, which means she will not face a seeded player before the third round.

The draw for the event will be made Wednesday.

The complete seedings:

Men:
1. Roger Federer (Sui)
2. Rafael Nadal (Esp)
3. Novak Djokovic (Srb)
4. Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)
5. Andy Roddick (USA)
6. James Blake (USA)
7. Fernando Gonzalez (Chi)
8. Tommy Robredo (Esp)
9. Tomas Berdych (Cze)
10. Tommy Haas (Ger)
11. Mikhail Youzhny (Rus)
12. Ivan Ljubicic (Cro)
13. Richard Gasquet (Fra)
14. Guillermo Canas (Arg)
15. David Ferrer (Esp)
16. Lleyton Hewitt (Aus)
17. Carlos Moya (Esp)
18. Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp)
19. Andy Murray (Eng)
20. Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg)
21. Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp)
22. Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra)
23. Juan Monaco (Arg)
24. David Nalbandian (Arg)
25. Marat Safin (Rus)
26. Jarkko Nieminen (Fin)
27. Dmitry Tursunov (Rus)
28. Nicolas Almagro (Esp)
29. Filippo Volandri (Ita)
30. Robin Soderling (Swe)
31. Potito Starace (Ita)
32. Jurgen Melzer (Aut)

Women:
1. Justine Henin (Bel)
2. Maria Sharapova (Rus)
3. Jelena Jankovic (Srb)
4. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)
5. Ana Ivanovic (Srb)
6. Anna Chakvetadze (Rus)
7. Nadia Petrova (Rus)
8. Serena Williams (USA)
9. Daniela Hantuchova (Svk)
10. Marion Bartoli (Fra)
11. Patty Schnyder (Sui)
12. Venus Williams (USA)
13. Nicole Vaidisova (Cze)
14. Elena Dementieva (Rus)
15. Dinara Safina (Rus)
16. Martina Hingis (Sui)
17. Tatiana Golovin (Fra)
18. Shahar Peer (Isr)
19. Sybille Bammer (Aut)
20. Lucie Safarova (Cze)
21. Alona Bondarenko (Ukr)
22. Katarina Srebotnik (Slo)
23. Tathiana Garbin (Ita)
24. Francesca Schiavone (Ita)
25. Mara Santangelo (Ita)
26. Sania Mirza (Ind)
27. Vera Zvonareva (Rus)
28. Ai Sugiyama (Jpn)
29. Samantha Stosur (Aus)
30. Agnieska Radwanska (Pol)
31. Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp)
32. Michaella Krajicek (Ned)

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