Serena Williams, Djokovic seeded No. 1 for US Open
Nadal to play in Australia
Yousef Khallaf
NEW YORK, Aug 24, (Agencies): Serena Williams is the No. 1 seeded woman for the US Open after barely holding on to the top spot in the rankings, and Novak Djokovic is No. 1 among the men.
Neither Williams nor Djokovic has played a match since early exits at the Rio Olympics. Williams later said she was dealing with a right shoulder problem, while Djokovic said his left wrist was sore.
Williams could have been overtaken atop the WTA rankings by No. 2 Angelique Kerber but stayed at No. 1 this week. The US Tennis Association adhered to the men’s and women’s rankings in announcing the seedings Tuesday.
This is the fifth time Williams is the top seed at Flushing Meadows; she has won the tournament six times. Last year, she was stunned in the semifinals by Roberta Vinci, stopping the American’s bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Garbine Muguruza is seeded No. 3, and Agnieszka Radwanska is No. 4.
Djokovic, the defending champion, is followed by No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and No. 4 Rafael Nadal.
The draw for the year’s last major tennis tournament is Friday. Play begins Monday.
Meanwhile, World No. 5 Rafael Nadal will play in the Brisbane International next year, organisers said on Wednesday, the first time the Spaniard has kicked off his season in Australia.
The tournament, held in the eastern city of Brisbane in January ahead of the Australian Open, was last won by big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic who defeated Roger Federer in the final.
“It’s going to be the first time in my career that I’m going to play in Australia the first week of the season and I’m really excited about it,” 14-time Grand Slam champion Nadal said in a statement.
“I think this is something I have to do during my career and I think at the same time it’s going to be a great preparation to be in Australia early.” of Switzerland 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
She may have been the luckiest of them all.
The 30-year-old, who upset Venus Williams at the Olympics, had lost in the second round of qualifying in New Haven. But she was moved into the main draw after Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko withdrew earlier in the day with a right knee injury. Flipkens had been hanging around the Connecticut Tennis Center since that Saturday’s defeat just to get some practice in before the U.S. Open. She signed in at 11:30 a.m. and found out at noon she would be playing a match.
She dominated the first set over a rusty Bencic, who is coming off a left wrist injury and was playing her second competitive match since Wimbledon.
But the 19-year-old, who had been ranked as high as No. 7 in the world earlier this year, came back and was up 5-2 in the final set. It was a more poised Flipkens who won the next five games as Bencic lost control, slamming her racket on the court on more than one occasion as the match slipped away.
Another lucky loser, Johanna Larsson of Sweden, beat seventh-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 7-5, 6-2.
The 28-year-old got into the main draw when Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew with a shoulder injury.
Larsson had lost every set in four previous meetings with Bacsinszky, who came in ranked No. 16 in the world.
Olympic doubles champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia became the first players to advance to the third round of the singles competition.
Vesnina was leading Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 1-0 when the 20-year-old Estonian withdrew with a left thigh injury.
Vesnina will play Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who won the last match of the day, 6-3, 6-1 over Evgenya Rodina of Russia. Svitolina is playing some of her best tennis coming off her upset of Serena Williams at the Olympics.
In Los Angeles, Sam Querrey got off to a successful start at the ATP WinstonSalem tournament by reaching the third round with a 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Querrey won 86 percent of his firstserve points and saved nine of 10 break points. He next plays Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who defeated Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-3, 7-5.
Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.