Jan 11, 2007, 16:26 GMT
Melbourne, Australia - Defending champion Roger Federer and Russian superstar Maria Sharapova have been installed as the top seeds for the Australian Open, which will commence Monday at Melbourne Park.
The world No. 1 Swiss Federer, who defeated Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in last year's final to corral his second Aussie Open crown in three years, is followed by second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Russian Nikolay Davydenko, Croat Ivan Ljubicic and American James Blake. Federer is the reigning Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Australian Open and Tennis Masters Cup champ, while Nadal, who missed last year's Aussie Open due to a foot injury, was last year's titlist at the French Open, where he upended Federer in the final. Nadal defeated the mighty Federer in four finals last year, as Federer went an unbelievable 90-1 when he wasn't facing the powerful Spaniard.
Federer has topped the men's rankings since February 2004 and will be seeking his 10th career Grand Slam title over the next few weeks.
The world No. 2 2006 U.S. Open champion Sharapova, who became the top seed here for the first time when top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne pulled out of the Aussie Open last week, is followed by second-seeded and defending Melbourne champion Amelie Mauresmo of France, French Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 2004 Aussie Open runner-up Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Russian Nadia Petrova. Mauresmo topped Henin-Hardenne in last year's finale here when the Belgian quit during the second set due to bad stomach pains. Mauresmo also went on to beat the Roland Garros titlist Henin-Hardenne in the Wimbledon final.
Henin-Hardenne, who reached all four Grand Slam finals last season, withdrew from the '07 Aussie Open due to personal reasons.
Meanwhile, Henin-Hardenne's 23-year-old countrywoman Clijsters is likely appearing in her final Australian Open, as she has already announced that 2007 will be her last season on the WTA Tour.
The men's top-10 seeds are rounded out by Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick, Tommy Robredo, David Nalbandian, Mario Ancic and Fernando Gonzalez, while the women's top-10 is rounded out by three-time Melbourne champion Martina Hingis, Elena Dementieva, Patty Schnyder, Dinara Safina and Nicole Vaidisova. The former No. 1 Hingis reached six straight Aussie Open finals from 1997-2002, with her victories coming back-to-back-to-back from 1997-99.
The aforementioned Baghdatis is seeded 11th among the men, while red-hot Serbian Jelena Jankovic is the 11th-seeded woman. Jankovic is currently riding a nine-match winning streak, which includes a title in Auckland last week and a quarterfinal victory over Mauresmo this week in Sydney. She's also beaten the likes of Hingis and Vaidisova this week.
Aussie crowd favorite Lleyton Hewitt is seeded 19th here, while his fellow two-time Grand Slam champion and fellow former world No. 1 Marat Safin is the 26th seed. Safin beat Hewitt in the 2005 Melbourne final.
Both the men's and women's draws will feature 32 seeds per side. Two-time Melbourne champion Serena Williams is unseeded this year. Her big sister and fellow former world No. 1 Venus pulled out of the year's first major just this week, citing a wrist injury.
The Aussie Open will boast eight former world No. 1s, all of the top-20 men and 18 of the top-20 women. Eight of the seeded women hail from Russia.
The singles draws will be held here on Friday morning.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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