World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic tops the list of seeded players at next week’s US Open.
The 2008 French Open champion leads a distinguished field which also includes former Grand Slam winners Venus and Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Lindsay Davenport, and Amelie Mauresmo.
The USTA announced on Tuesday that Serbia’s Ivanovic will be the top seed at the 2008 US Open in women’s singles. The 2008 US Open will be played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., August 25 – September 7.
Ivanovic, who won her first Grand Slam title at this year’s French Open, is followed by No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia; No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, the 2004 US Open champion; No. 4 seed Serena Williams of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., a two-time US Open champion and winner of eight Grand Slam singles titles overall; and No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva of Russia, the Olympic gold medalist in women’s singles. American Venus Williams of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is seeded 7.
No. 6 seed Dinara Safina of Russia clinched the 2008 Olympus US Open Series Bonus women’s title, and will play for a potential $1 million in bonus prize money at the US Open.
Ivanovic, 20, has won two titles this year, including her first Gland Slam at Roland Garros. She also reached the final of the 2008 Australian Open and the 2007 French Open.
For 2008, the US Open followed the WTA Tour rankings to determine the women’s singles seeds. This is the seventh consecutive year that the US Open has seeded 32 players in both singles events.
2008 US Open Women’s Singles Seeds
1. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
2. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
4. Serena Williams, United States
5. Elena Dementieva, Russia
6. Dinara Safina, Russia
7. Venus Williams, United States
8. Vera Zvonareva, Russia
9. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland
10. Anna Chakvetadze, Russia
11. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovak Republic
12. Marion Bartoli, France
13. Agnes Szavay, Hungary
14. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus
15. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland
16. Flavia Pennetta, Italy
17. Alize Cornet, France
18. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovak Republic
19. Nadia Petrova, Russia
20. Nicole Vaidisova, Czech Republic
21. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
22. Maria Kirilenko, Russia
23. Lindsay Davenport, United States
24. Shahar Peer, Israel
25. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
26. Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spain
27. Alona Bondarenko, Ukraine
28. Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenia
29. Sybille Bammer, Austria
30. Ai Sugiyama, Japan
31. Virginie Razzano, France
32. Amelie Mauresmo, France
The singles draws for the 2008 US Open will be conducted Thursday, August 21 at 11 a.m. at the TimesCenter in New York City.
I am hoping Safina will go one step further and take out the US Open. After getting to the final at Roland Garros and then the silver medal in Beijing, this would be a nice way to end off her year.