Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters the US Open top seeds
Last year, Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters were the surprise women’s finalists at the US Open. This year, the pair return as the tournament’s top two seeds.
World No. 2 Wozniacki assumes the top seed at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career at Flushing Meadows as a result of world No. 1 Serena Williams’ withdrawal from the year’s final major as the American continues her recovery from a foot injury.
Wozniacki’s runner-up finish at last year’s US Open remains the closest the 20-year-old has yet come to winning a major title, but with two titles to her name in the lead-up to New York (and three for the year) there’s no doubt she’s got the form to perhaps go one better this year.
Second seeded Clijsters though is the proven article. An unranked wildcard when she took to the court in New York last year in the third tournament of her comeback after more than two years out of tennis, the mum-of-one stormed past both Venus and Serena Williams and finally Wozniacki to claim the second US Open title of her career.
A third could well be in the offing for the Belgian, who also has three titles under her belt for 2010, and was last defeated at the US Open in the 2003 final.
Chasing those two are former US Open champion Venus Williams, who assumes the third seeding, and world No. 5 Jelena Jankovic, the fourth seed and beaten finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2008.
With the seedings staying true to the rankings, with Serena’s withdrawal bumping all players up one seeding from where they would otherwise have been, French Open finalist Sam Stosur and French Open champion Francesca Schiavone occupy the fifth and sixth seedings respectively.
Beaten Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva is seeded seventh, Australian Open semi-finalist Li Na is the eighth seed, Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska is the ninth seed and Victoria Azarenka is seeded tenth.
Former US Open champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova are seeded 11th and 14th respectively.
Last year’s top seed, Dinara Safina, who is currently ranked as the world No. 59 after a season plagued by ongoing back problems and struggles to return to form in the tournaments she has played, is unseeded for this year’s US Open.
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