No surprise as Serena named top seed

Two-time defending champion Serena Williams was named the top seed on Wednesday for the US Open, the year's final Grand Slam tennis showdown that opens on Monday on the Flushing Meadows hard courts.

World No 1 Williams was also the US Open top seed in 2002 and 2013 and each time went on to win the title. She also won the US Open crown in 1999, 2008 and 2012.

Williams is a five-time Wimbledon and Australian Open champion as well and also lists two French Open titles among her 17 Grand Slam singles crowns.

Adding another trophy to her career haul after the Flushing Meadows fortnight would put Williams, 32, level with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert as the second-best all-time Slam singles title winners of the Open era, behind Steffi Graf's record 22 titles in the span.

A sixth US Open title by Williams would also match Evert for the most in the era.

Romania's Simona Halep, runner-up at this year's French Open, was made the second seed followed by Czech Petra Kvitova, who last month captured her second Wimbledon crown, and Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in fourth.

World No 2 Li Na of China withdrew in July because of a knee injury. Otherwise the US Tennis Association followed rankings in setting the top seeds.

Russia's Maria Sharapova, the reigning French Open champion and 2006 US Open winner, was made the fifth seed.

Belarus' Victoria Azarenka, who lost to Williams in the past two US Open finals, was made the 16th seed.

Two-time US Open champion Venus Williams was seeded 19th while 2004 US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia was seeded 20th, four spots above the 2011 US Open champion, Samantha Stosur of Australia.

World No 1 Novak Djokovic, the reigning Wimbledon champion seeking his eighth career Grand Slam singles crown, was named the top seed on the men's side with 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, the five-time US Open champion, made the second seed.

US open seeds list

Aug 25-Sept 8

Men

1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia

2. Roger Federer, Switzerland

3. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland

4. David Ferrer, Spain

5. Milos Raonic, Canada

6. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic

7. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria

8. Andy Murray, Britain

9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France

10. Kei Nishikori, Japan

11. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia

12. Richard Gasquet, France

13. John Isner, United States

14. Marin Cilic, Croatia

15. Fabio Fognini, Italy

16. Tommy Robredo, Spain

17. Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain

18. Kevin Anderson, South Africa

19. Feliciano Lopez, Spain

20. Gael Monfils, France

21. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia

22. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany

23. Leonardo Mayer, Argentina

24. Julien Benneteau, France

25. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia

26. Gilles Simon, France

27. Santiago Giraldo, Colombia

28. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain

29. Lukas Rosol, Czech Republic

30. Jeremy Chardy, France

31. Fernando Verdasco, Spain

32. Joao Sousa, Portugal

Women

1. Serena Williams, United States

2. Simona Halep, Romania

3. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic

4. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland

5. Maria Sharapova, Russia

6. Angelique Kerber, Germany

7. Eugenie Bouchard, Canada

8. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia

9. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia

10. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark

11. Flavia Pennetta, Italy

12. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia

13. Sara Errani, Italy

14. Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic

15. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain

16. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus

17. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia

18. Andrea Petkovic, Germany

19. Venus Williams, United States

20. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia

21. Sloane Stephens, United States

22. Alize Cornet, France

23. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia

24. Sam Stosur, Australia

25. Garbine Muguruza, Spain

26. Sabine Lisicki, Germany

27. Madison Keys, United States

28. Roberta Vinci, Italy

29. Casey Dellacqua, Australia

30. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic

31. Kurumi Nara, Japan

32. Zhang Shuai, China

(China Daily 08/22/2014 page23)